Togetherness
by KatanaNoNeko
Summary: Discontinued indefinitely
1. 4 Weeks

**A/N: Here's Togetherness! This first chapter is just the second chapter of Father's Day, but I already have another chapter in the works, so you won't have to wait too long.**

 **As I said, this'll be updated inconsistently.**

 **Being a seventeen-year-old-goody-two-shoes-girl, I don't know what it's like to be pregnant, which means RESEARCH. Fun. Sorry if some of the details are inaccurate. If they are, then... how about we just say that pregnancies are different because of magic?**

 **haha, no. I'll just be wrong.**

 **I'll stop blabbering now.**

* * *

It was about nine o'clock, Father's Day, and Natsu was just waking up for the second time. Early in the morning, Lucy had woken Natsu up with a surprise- she was pregnant! After they had talked for a bit, both ended up falling back asleep. Lucy had woken up again just a half hour before Natsu.

Lucy smiled at Natsu as he awoke. "Good morning, Natsu."

Natsu yawned. "G'morning, Luce!" As his grogginess left him and his most recent memories came to mind, Natsu's eyes grew wide and he sat up quickly to look at Lucy. "Lucy, did I dream that!?"

It took Lucy a second, but then she realized what Natsu was talking about. She smiled warmly at him, then put a hand on her stomach. "It wasn't a dream. I'm still pregnant." Natsu grinned widely, then kissed Lucy and her belly.

"I'm so happy, Lucy! We have a baby! We're starting our family!" Natsu wrapped his arms around Lucy in a hug. When they separated, Natsu asked, "How long have you known?"

"I guessed that I was last Friday, and took the test. That's what that thing in the present was, by the way. A pregnancy test." Lucy said, gesturing to the box sitting on their nightstand.

"And this is for sure? It can't have been a-a broken one or something?" Natsu had a worried look on his face.

Lucy smiled again. "Natsu, I've taken it twice a day for the past three days." She held Natsu's hands in her own as her grin grew wider. "Every single one was positive. We're really going to have a baby!" Natsu hugged Lucy again and didn't show signs of letting go. "Hey, Natsu, I know you're really happy, but we should get ready and go to the guild. I can't wait to tell everyone else!"

Natsu got an eager look on his face, obviously excited to brag to Gray and Gajeel that he was a dad before them. "Yeah! Let's go!"

* * *

"Good morning, Fairy Tail!" Natsu yelled to everyone as he entered the guild hall. He then began running around to a bunch of the different dads present. "Happy Father's Day, Macao! Happy Father's Day, Alzack!..." Lucy laughed as she watched him and the confused addressees, them not knowing why Natsu was so jovial about the holiday that usually passed without the dragon slayer even noticing. Lucy went to the bar to talk to Mirajane, where Erza also happened to be.

"Hello, Mira, Erza!" Lucy greeted cheerfully.

"You and Natsu both seem awfully happy today! Did something special happen this morning?" Mirajane asked with a wink and a nudge.

"That does seem very likely, given these two's history." Erza gestured towards a closet nearby with a laugh. Lucy flushed red.

"No, nothing like that! I'll tell you guys what it is when Natsu comes over, okay?"

"Okay!"

Right on cue, Natsu arrived at his wife's side. "Who'll we tell first, Luce?"

Lucy gestured towards Mira and Erza, who both looked eager to know what the excitement was for, although they already had a guess. "Wanna say it at the same time?"

"Sure! 3... 2... 1..."

"We're having a baby!" Natsu and Lucy's voices overlapped each other, but Mira and Erza could still make out what they had said.

"Oh my God! You guys! I'm so happy for you!" Mira was clapping her hands together and jumping up and down, obviously excited to start baking lots of treats now that Fairy Tail's next generation was beginning to be on its way. Erza, on the other hand, seemed to be fantasizing about eating all the treats that Mira would make, especially the strawberry ones. "I can't wait until I get to start spoiling the little delinquent!"

Lucy and Natsu pretended to be offended. "Delinquent!?"

Erza laughed. "Well, it is your kid, Natsu!"

Natsu grinned. "Yup! And my kid'll be the most delinquenty of all!"

"Lulu, did I hear right!?" A voice asked from behind them. It was Levy speaking, with Juvia standing next to her wanting to know the same thing. "Are you pregnant!?" Lucy and Natsu both nodded excitedly, and Levy instantly began squealing and hugging her friend. "This is so exciting! You guys are the first of us newer couples to have kids!"

"I am very happy for you both, Lucy and Natsu." Juvia said to them, smiling.

"What's with all the screeching over here?" Gray and Gajeel asked, irritably.

Natsu said proudly, "Lucy's pregnant! Now I've gotten a girlfriend, a wife, and a baby before you guys!" Gray and Gajeel's jaws dropped.

"So the Flame Brain does know where to put it!?" Gray yelled.

"I thought the guy was too much of an idiot to figure it out!"

"I'll bet Lucy did all the work!"

Gray and Gajeel continued taking hits at Natsu's pride and Juvia and Levy tried to get their husbands to knock it off, while Erza and Mira just shook their heads. Lucy leaned to Natsu and whispered, "I'm surprised you haven't 'fire dragon iron fist'-ed them yet."

Natsu grinned. "I'm too happy for even them to spoil my good mood!"

Lucy gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You know, I really lucked out with you, Natsu. I love you."

Natsu kissed her back. "I lucked out with you, too, Luce. I love you."

"NAAAATSUUUU! LUUUSHIIIIII! I'M BACK FROM THAT MISSION WITH CARLA AND WENDY!" Happy flew into Natsu's arms for a hug, and Lucy and Natsu greeted him.

"How'd the job go, buddy?" Natsu asked.

"It was great! I bought some fish while I was in Hargeon!" Happy said excitedly.

Lucy laughed. "You know that going on jobs is for making money, not spending it, right?" Happy stuck his tongue out at Lucy.

Natsu spoke next. "Okay, enough of that! Happy, we've got some great news! Lucy and I are having a baby!"

Happy's eyes grew wide. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!? LUSHI'S PREGNANT!?" the cat yelled, loud enough that his voice carried through the entirety of the guild hall. Lucy and Natsu were suddenly surrounded by similar reactions to what they had already heard that morning.

"That's so great, Lucy!"

"How long have you been pregnant?"

"Congratulations, guys! Don't worry, Lucy. I bet Natsu will be a better dad than when we played together as kids!"

"Well, I guess you're having a great Father's Day, Natsu. No wonder you were so happy. Congrats."

"I guess they slept together one too many times!"

"Cana, I'm pretty sure they planned this. They wanted kids."

"Good luck being a dad, Natsu."

"Hey! I heard that, Alzack! 'You not like being a father? Seriously, though, good luck with the parenting, you guys."

"Have you picked out names yet?"

"This is so manly!"

"Natsu? A dad? I feel like it was just yesterday he was a little kid himself, terrorizing us adults!"

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"I still can't believe that this idiot knew how to do it."

"You've already made that comment, idiot. Don't repeat your jokes."

This went on for a while, and Lucy and Natsu were overwhelmed with questions and congratulations while they tried to respond to everyone. By the time the crowd of responses to the pregnancy finally dissipated, Lucy and Natsu were both exhausted, but they stayed at the guild for a while, anyways. People would still occasionally ask questions, but after the initial reaction, things really settled down. Eventually, Natsu and Lucy moved from the bar to one of the booths.

"So... What _do_ you think about names for our kid, Luce?" Natsu asked Lucy.

"I don't really know. I haven't thought about it, yet."

"Well, let's start thinking now!" After a few seconds, Natsu excitedly said, "How about 'Fire'!"

"Absolutely not! We are not naming our child 'Fire'!" Natsu gave her a whine. "But maybe... For a girl, 'Ember'?"

Natsu and Lucy both thought about that name, then both spoke at the same time.

"Nah."

Lucy spoke next. "Well, how about a simple name? Something like- no. Nonono. Never mind. We can't do that name."

Natsu cocked his head. "What name?"

"Jason."

Automatically hearing the annoying catchphrase of the Sorcerer Weekly journalist, Natsu immediately agreed with Lucy's firm statement against it. This kept going, the couple throwing out names, but never finding one that either of them really liked. Finally, with a yawn, Natsu asked, "You ready to go home, Luce? It's getting late."

"Yeah, I'm tired."

"All right. Happy, we're leaving!"

"Okay! I'm gonna meet you back home, all right? We're in the middle of our game!" Happy said, gesturing to the cards sitting in front of he and the other Fairy Tail exceeds. Natsu and Lucy said goodbye to the members still at the guild, then left for their house.

As they walked, Natsu seemed to be more alert than he usually was. One hand was clasped together with one of Lucy's, as per usual, but he had the other one hand curled in a fist, ready to fight. He also kept checking all around them. Every time they walked past an alley, Natsu would walk so that he was in between it and Lucy, as well as look carefully into the darkening alley for any sign of danger. Lucy had noticed it on the walk that morning as well, and it confused her.

"Hey, Natsu? What's the matter?" Lucy asked, concerned.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Natsu asked with a curious look on his face.

"You just seem like you're on high alert, is all."

"'High alert'?"

"It's just... I think you're being a lot more careful than usual. You're checking all the alleys, and you look like you're ready to fight anything you see."

"Oh, that? I'm always watching out for danger when we're somewhere it might be!"

"Really? Because in the many years I've known you, I've never noticed this behavior."

Natsu shrugged. "I guess I'm just trying to do an even better job of looking out, since now I have even more family to protect! I could never stand it if something happened to you two!" After saying it, he kissed her on the cheek.

Lucy leaned onto Natsu, resting her head on his shoulder, while they continued walking. "I love you, Natsu."

The dragon slayer smiled and kissed Lucy's cheek again. "I love you too, Lucy." Then, he said, a little louder, "And I love you, too, Baby!"

Lucy smiled and put an arm across her abdomen. "We can't wait to see you in nine months!"


	2. 5 Weeks

**A/N: This is a very short chapter, but an important one.**

* * *

 **5th Week of Pregnancy**

It was early in the morning, about a week after Lucy had revealed her pregnancy, and Lucy and Natsu were sleeping in their bed.

That is, until Lucy was jolted awake by her stomach.

With a hand clamped over her mouth, Lucy untangled herself from Natsu's arms and ran into the bathroom. She could only make it to the sink before the contents of her stomach were overturned. After the first vomit, she was hoping she could get back to bed, but, alas, her stomach had a different idea. This time, she got to the toilet, though.

Natsu groaned and reached for Lucy in his sleep, noticing that she was no longer in his arms. Where was she? He slowly awakened with the realization that Lucy wasn't in bed.

"Luce?" He called into the room. He could hear her coughing in the bathroom. Taking a sniff of the air, Natsu realized that she wasn't coughing; she was throwing up.

"Lucy!" Natsu was instantly out of bed and running into the bathroom. Seeing Lucy hunched over the toilet, Natsu immediately kneeled next to her and held her hair away from the line of fire. Lucy smiled at him before coughing over the toilet. "Lucy, are you okay? Why're you throwing up!?" Natsu was frantic, remembering that Wendy had told them that it was dangerous for the baby if Lucy got ill this early in her pregnancy.

Lucy spit into the toilet, all her hacking causing bile to creep into her mouth. She waved a hand nonchalantly to her husband. "It's just morning sickness. It came early for me, apparently," Lucy said, remembering that Porlyusica had told her that morning sickness usually started in the sixth week of pregnancy. She coughed once more, then groaned. "I think it's done for now." Lucy stood up, albeit a little wobbly, her hair falling out of Natsu's hands. She flushed the toilet to get rid of her vomit.

Walking to the door, confirming that her stomach was done with its queasiness for now, Lucy called for Natsu. "Are you coming? I wanna go back to sleep."

Natsu still looked worried. "What's 'morning sickness'?"

Lucy's face was struck with an expression of realization. "Oh! That's what you're so worried about!" Natsu nodded. "Don't worry, I haven't caught the flu or anything. Pregnant women just throw up a lot. It's called 'morning sickness'. I suggest you get used to the smell of throw-up." Natsu could tell that her last sentence was partially directed at herself.

"So, because you're pregnant, you'll throw up a lot?"

"Yeah."

Natsu felt a little guilty. Lucy would be miserable having to be hunched over the toilet all the time, and it was partially _his_ doing that made her pregnant. "I'm sorry, Luce!"

Lucy, honestly, was _expecting_ Natsu to be ashamed over making her pregnant once he found out how much pain it would put her through. That's just the person he was. It was very sweet, but she had to nip that guilt in the bud before it created problems.

Placing a finger over Natsu's mouth to stop more words of shame from coming out, Lucy started talking. "Natsu, stop that. Don't feel guilty. I'm gonna tell you now, this'll completely suck. For both of us. I'm almost constantly gonna be sore, tired, and hormonal. Those hormones are going to make me bitchy, which will be terrible for you. I'll be complaining and yelling _a lot_. I'll also be an emotional wreck, and I'll be crying just as much as I'm complaining, and I'll be yelling at you for making me pregnant. I mean, I'll try not to, of course, but hormones are not fun to deal with." With each of Lucy's words, Natsu could feel his gut clenching tighter in guilt. "But Natsu, I need you to understand one thing."

"What's that?"

"I'm perfectly and completely happy to go through all that for our child; our family. All the pain that we go through with my pregnancy will be worth it, because we'll have our baby at the end of it. Do you understand?" Natsu nodded. "Now that I've said all that, let _me_ apologize to _you_. In advance, for all the stuff I'll put you through."

Natsu grinned and repeated Lucy's words, feeling better. "Don't feel guilty, Luce. I'm perfectly and completely happy to go through all that for our child and for our family."

Lucy grinned back at him. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

* * *

 **That Night, in the Guild Hall's Bathroom**

"Lucy, I thought you said it was morning sickness!" Natsu said confusedly as he held her hair back for her.

"It's obviously not-" Lucy barfed again. "-not exclusive for me."

* * *

 **A/N: Like I said, a short chapter, but I do think that it's an important one. Sorry to those wanting a longer one!**


	3. 5 Weeks and a Day

**A Day Later**

"Hey, guys!" Lucy and Natsu called to the guild, earning several 'hey's back in reply. Happy was off on an early morning fishing trip, saying that he hadn't been able to go for a 'long time' because he was too busy 'taking care of Lucy'. It had been a day since Lucy's morning sickness had begun.

Natsu ordered food for the two of them. Lucy, since her fifth week had begun, had been eating more than she usually did, which wasn't unusual, but Natsu had a thought that she would eventually be eating just as much, if not more, than he did as the pregnancy progressed. It was partially _his_ kid she was eating for, after all. After the couple sat down at a table, Wendy approached Lucy. The sky dragon slayer, learning of Lucy's morning sickness starting, had gone to Porlyusica the night before to know if there was anything for the bluenette to tell Lucy. Wendy was inexperienced with pregnancies, but since Porlyusica couldn't stand people, Wendy was doing as much as she could for the couple. Their regular checkups would still be with Porlyusica, though.

After asking how the pregnant woman was doing, Wendy continued. "Porlyusica told me that you should start being careful about being at the guild. Now that your morning sickness has started, even the most simple smells will make your stomach turn, and there are lots of strong smells here."

Lucy took a deep inhale. "Doesn't seem like anything's making me queasy right now, but I'll be wary." The bluenette smiled and nodded her approval before leaving again.

"What kinds of smells could make you sick?" Natsu wondered as he began digging into his oatmeal, heavily flavored with cinnamon and apple. He laughed at how quickly Lucy was scarfing down her own oatmeal, once again thinking that the baby was going to take after him as far as appetite went.

"It's different for everyone. Some women get sick at seemingly everything, others are fine except for just one or two specific smells." Natsu hummed his understanding. "Since I haven't smelled anything and thrown up because of it, I'm probably the latter."

"Only a few smells will make you sick?"

"Maybe."

"Why-"

Lucy put a hand on his chest to indicate that he needed to stop talking. "As much as I love to talk about me throwing up, let's not."

Natsu snickered. "Yeah, of course. Sorry, Luce. I just want to know how you're doing."

The blonde smiled. "I understand. Thank you for worrying about me." She pecked him on the cheek. Just as she leaned back, a smell graced her nose. Or rather, a smell offended her nose. One of her hands immediately went to her mouth while the other frantically reached for a dish. The dish she happened to grab was Natsu's still half-full oatmeal bowl, but she was without care as she barfed all the oatmeal she had just eaten into it.

"Lucy!" His voice was laced with both concern for his wife and annoyance at his ruined food. He decided to confront the former first. "Is it your morning sickness again?"

Lucy spit into the bowl to get rid of the remaining grossness in her mouth, then pushed the bowl away before it made her get sick again. "I'm really sorry about your food!" Lucy gagged again and grabbed her empty bowl to throw up the rest of the contents of her stomach when she smelled that disgusting smell again.

Natsu sighed and rubbed her back soothingly. "It's okay. Was it your morning sickness?"

Lucy coughed, her throat stinging. "Yeah, but it was because I smelled something. I swear it was f-" The smell came again. Lucy covered her mouth as she gagged, but her stomach was empty now, so there was nothing to vomit. "-ish..."

Happy flew in front of them with fish in his paws and a grin on his face. "Look at all the fish I caught!" Lucy smiled at him before gagging again. She stood up and ran from the table quickly.

"What's the matter with Lushi?" Happy asked Natsu with concern.

"Sorry, Happy. I think your fish is making her throw up. I'm gonna go check on her. Good job with how many you caught, though. That's a lot!"

Happy smiled proudly, then drooped sadly. "Tell her I'm sorry!"

Natsu nodded, then went to the bathroom, where he had seen Lucy disappear to. He didn't care that it was the girls' bathroom; he had to make sure Lucy was okay.

Lucy was standing over the sink, breathing heavily. From the smell of soap in the air, Natsu realized that she had been washing her face and hands. "Luce, you okay?" She turned around to look at him. Natsu could see her eyes watering pretty badly. He pulled her into his arms.

"You know how I said that I probably have the morning sickness where only one or two scents bother me?" Natsu nodded. "Yeah, fish is one of those scents. And it's bothering me really badly."

"Happy says he's sorry for making you barf."

Lucy smiled. "Well, tell him that he's okay. It's not his fault that I can't stand the smell of fish."

"Why not just tell him yourself? He can put the fish away."

"Because the smell will still be lingering on him, strong enough to make me gag. What are we gonna do about this? Happy loves fish, but I can't be around it!" Natsu shrugged and hummed 'I don't know' a little sadly. "Maybe Wendy can do something," Lucy suggested. They both nodded, then left the bathroom to go find the sky dragon slayer.

Upon leaving, Lucy could see Happy watching her from a distance. Lucy smiled at him to tell him that she was okay, and he smiled back in an apologetic way.

"Hey, Wendy?" Natsu started once they found her. "Fish makes Lucy sick. Do you have a spell for that?"

Wendy looked a little nervous. "It's part of your morning sickness?" Wendy asked, directed to Lucy. Lucy nodded, and Wendy bit her lip nervously. "No, there's not a spell for that... Magic can do a lot, but there's not much for soothing pregnancy symptoms."

"What!?" Lucy shouted. "There's no spell for that!? So what are we supposed to do!? Just isolate Happy from me or force him to stop fishing for the next eight months!? We can't-"

"Lucy, calm down!" Natsu placed a hand on her shoulder.

"How can you ask me to calm down!? This is your best friend we're talking about! Ugh! This is all your fault for-" The color drained from Lucy's face as she realized what she was saying. "I'm sorry, Natsu!" Tears filled her eyes and she hugged him tightly. "I didn't mean it! I love you, and Baby! I'm sorry!"

Natsu rubbed her back soothingly. Wendy smiled at her fellow dragon slayer, mouthed the word 'hormones' to him, and left to give the couple privacy. "Hey, it's okay, Luce..."

Lucy raised her head back up and started shouting again. "What!? No, it's not okay!" Many of the guild members around them couldn't help but snicker quietly at the confused looks on Natsu's face as he tried to deal with Lucy's first serious mood swing. "I told you I would try to keep a check on my hormones, and now, only a day later, and I'm already yelling at you for making me pregnant! I'm a terrible wife!" Tears were filling up Lucy's eyes again, and she leaned her forehead on his chest. Her body racked with sobs while Natsu internally screamed to the heavens for help. How did he deal with this!?

"You're not a terrible wife! You're the best wife I could ever ask for! Better than I deserve!"

Lucy sniffled. "Natsu, I want ice cream. Really badly."

"Huh?" _Wasn't she just crying? Where did_ ice cream _come in?_

"I need ice cream. _Need_ it."

"But, Luce..."

Lucy pouted, her bottom lip protruding out. "Please, Natsu? I really, really need ice cream right now."

 _Damn, she looks cute like that_. Natsu chuckled as they walked to the bar. She had him wrapped around her little finger, and he was perfectly fine with it. "Yeah, I'll get you ice cream. Mirajane?" Mirajane smiled to Natsu and nodded.

"What are your cravings telling you for a flavor, Lucy?" Mirajane asked carefully, but with a chuckle.

Lucy thought for a moment. "Brownie. Chocolate ice cream with chunks of brownie in it. And chocolate syrup on top. And strawberry halves."

"That's really specific, Luce. You're craving all that? Ow! Mira!" Mirajane had whacked Natsu in the arm.

"Natsu, the most important thing to remember about pregnancy cravings is that you _don't comment on them_." To confirm her words, Lucy was giving him a slight frown.

Natsu started sweating a bit. He didn't want Lucy to get angry again! But then, Lucy's face softened and she sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Natsu. These pregnancy hormones are so much harder to deal with than period hormones, and I was never good at dealing with those, either."

Natsu pecked her on the cheek. "I forgive you, Lucy. Like we said, we're both willing to do this so we can have our family." Lucy smiled to him. It was then that Mirajane brought out her ice cream, and Lucy shouted with glee.

"Yes! This is exactly how I wanted it!" Before anyone else could comment, Lucy, quite literally, dug in. It only took her a few minutes to scarf down the mounds of ice cream, and after she was done, she was struck with a strong headache. "Eh... I ate too quickly..." Lucy moaned as she rested her head on her husband's shoulder.

Natsu could tell that she wasn't in a cranky mood, so he decided that a little teasing was okay. "Yeah, you ate way too quickly. Come on, Luce! Even I know not to eat ice cream too fast!" Lucy let out a mixture of a laugh and a groan as she snuggled further into him. At this point, Lucy had her legs twined around the bar stool's legs, so that she wouldn't fall off as she cuddled her husband. Lucy heard Natsu laugh lightly, then felt one of his strong arms wrap around her shoulder as she started to drift into sleep. Within her state of half-sleep, Lucy felt her legs unwrap from the stool's legs, but couldn't do anything to stop them. Before she could even think about panicking, though, she felt Natsu move for a second, and then she was lifted up. Before she was put down again, she was completely asleep, lulled by Natsu's steady, thumping heart.

Mirajane was still at the bar, currently handing a slice if strawberry cake to Erza. They both watched as Natsu held his wife lovingly.

"Pregnancy seems to have hit Lucy like an Etherion Blast." Mirajane remarked with a laugh.

Erza swallowed the first bite of her sweet concoction. "Yes, seems so. Morning sickness starting yesterday, and now the fish smell worsening it. Not to mention that she's now eating much more food than normal, a crazy mood swing, exhaustion, and cravings. If every day continues like this, then they'll both be in for a tough time."

Mirajane smiled. "Yes. It's a good thing they both love each other so much."

* * *

 **A/N: Here you go: a longer chapter. I probably won't update this one for a bit. I'm trying to finish up another multi-chap fic so that I can start posting it. It's called "Idiots in Love", and hopefully you'll see it soon. Bye!**

 **And thanks for the reviews, guys!**


	4. 7 Weeks

**7th week of Pregnancy (1 Month, 3 weeks)**

It had been about two weeks since Lucy's morning sickness had started. Due to the intensity of her vomiting every time the smell of fish came upon her, Natsu and Lucy had worked out an arrangement where Happy would stay with Wendy and Carla the days that he went fishing. This was one of those days. Happy had woken up at five and left with his fishing pole, careful not to wake Lucy and Natsu as he left. However, Lucy had soon after woken because of morning sickness, and the couple were alone at home. They decided that they were going to have a lazy day and not go anywhere, as they were both tired from their sleep schedule change, and needed a day away from the guild's excitement. When even Natsu needed a break, everyone knew it had to be exhausting. Because of Lucy's morning sickness and Natsu's insisting that he take care of her, they'd been getting up at five thirty in the morning. Of course, they had tried to compromise that by going to bed earlier, but the 'morning sickness' had other ideas. Without fail, Lucy had a bout of vomiting at both five thirty in the morning and eleven o'clock at night. Without fail. Luckily for Lucy, she didn't ever vomit much in between, besides when she smelled fish, but the inconvenient times made for a frustrated, pregnant Lucy.

"Naaatsuuuu..." Lucy whined. Natsu noticed that she was a lot more whiny when she was pregnant. He knew that that was common for pregnant women, as well as being yelly. He didn't know which he'd prefer: whiny or yelly. He knew better than to complain about it, though. Even he wasn't that dumb, so he just contented himself to taking care of her.

"Yeah, Luce?" They were in bed right now, Lucy laying basically on top of him, with their arms around each other.

"I wanna have saltiiiiiiiines..."

Natsu groaned as he realized that he had forgotten to grab her bi-daily saltines. He tried to get up to comply to her request, but found that Lucy wasn't budging. "Lucy, I'll go get them, but you've gotta get off of me."

Lucy propped her head up on his chest. "But I wanna cuddle..." Suddenly, Lucy's lip stuck out in a pout and her eyes got watery. "Don't you like cuddling with me?" she asked a little hysterically. _Damn hormones_ , they both thought.

"Lucy, that's not what I meant! I love cuddling with you, you know that! I just meant-" Suddenly, with a burst of golden magic, another person appeared in the room: a pink haired girl in a maid's uniform.

"I sensed Princess's distress," Virgo notified. "What's wrong?"

Lucy didn't answer, still sniffling. Natsu glanced at Virgo, then kept looking at Lucy and said, "She wants the crackers from the kitchen, but she won't let me get up because she wants to cuddle." Natsu didn't know why she insisted on keeping them in the kitchen when she always ate them in bed. But she had yelled at him when he suggested storing them in their bedroom, so he didn't bring it up again.

"Very well." Virgo headed to the kitchen. Natsu sighed in relief, thankful for Lucy's spirits. Many of them had offered their help, and they would especially be needed later in the pregnancy when Natsu would have to go on jobs without Lucy in order to keep Baby safe and well.

Virgo came back with two packages of saltine crackers. "Thank you, Virgo," Lucy sniffled out. "And no, I would not like to punish you." Lucy rolled off of Natsu and sat up in order to eat the crackers.

"You're welcome, Princess. Master Natsu, if Princess requires my assistance again, just call my name, and someone will come." And with that, the spirit disappeared into the spirit realm.

Natsu watched Lucy stuff what had to be six crackers in her mouth at once and soon after, she let out a satisfied hum. Natsu smiled as he sat up to kiss her cheek. So far, his guess that Lucy would be eating a lot had been confirmed. It had only been two weeks, but Natsu could say pretty confidently that she had eaten more in her pregnancy than she had the entire two months before it. She always craved saltine crackers after her morning sickness and downed at least an entire package and a half before that craving was sated, but that was the least of her cravings. There wasn't a moment of the day that she didn't feel like eating something. Sometimes, her food desire was vague, like needing something sweet, or something with beef, but other times, it was very specific. Just yesterday, she flat-out refused to eat anything for supper but a _deep dish_ pizza with _mozzarella, cheddar,_ and _parmesan_ cheeses, _cubes_ of pepperoni, _slices_ of tomato, and _ranch_ to dip it in, of all things. They'd had to order three pizzas before she deemed one perfect. And then she'd ended up eating that entire one and half of one of the slightly imperfect ones. And no matter what Lucy ate for supper, she always craved some sort of ice cream afterwards. It was always ice cream with chunks of something in it, a type of syrup drizzled on it, and some kind of fruit to top it off. Usually, it was the brownie ice cream that had served as her first craving, but once it had been chocolate chip cookie dough with caramel and raspberries. The ice cream was only after second supper, though. She craved cheesy popcorn after first supper, and jello after first and second lunch. Basically, Lucy was eating a meal every other hour of the day that wasn't occupied with sleep, vomit, or peeing. Natsu was glad about that. They were finally on an eating schedule that made sense.

Natsu was taken out of his thoughts by the crinkling of Lucy opening another package of crackers. Then, she commented, "Natsu, I'm eating so much! This baby is definitely taking after you!" Lucy stuffed more crackers in her mouth.

Natsu grinned and patted Lucy's belly lightly. "Seems like it!"

"Have you thought of any good names?"

"Nope," Natsu replied, popping the end of the word with a 'puh'. "You?" Lucy replied the same he had. They both sat and brainstormed for names.

"Maybe we could ask the guild," Lucy suggested.

Natsu snorted at the idea. "Half of them would tell us to name Baby after them."

Lucy laughed. "Yeah, they probably would." She continued thinking. "Ugh! I wish we could know the gender right away! Then we would only have to come up with one name!"

"Yeah, that'd make it easier!"

"Hey, why don't we do that? Just focus on figuring out one name, I mean." Natsu replied with his approval. "Let's figure out the name for a boy first, then, because I think Baby will be male."

"Really?" Natsu asked. Lucy nodded. "'Cause I think Baby'll be a girl."

"What!? It seems like Baby has your appetite, and there's no way a girl could eat that much!"

Natsu gestured towards the crackers that she had just started to put down on the nightstand. "You're eating that much," he said with a snicker.

Lucy whacked him in the back of the head before they laid back down to try and get some more sleep. "Only because of your baby!"

"Your baby too, Luce," Natsu said before kissing her on the cheek again. Lucy smiled and nuzzled his nose with hers for a second before giving him a chaste kiss on the lips.

"It's our baby." Lucy snuggled up to Natsu, her head on his chest. "So, what makes you so sure Baby's a girl?"

"Nothing. Just a hunch. But it _is_ the guy that chooses the gender, isn't it?"

Lucy lifted her head up and gawked at him. "You mean, you actually remember that!?"

Natsu feigned offence. "Hey! You gotta gimme some credit! That was only last week that Porlyusica was talking about it!"

Lucy laughed and laid back down. She yawned before saying, "Well, if you're so sure that Baby's a girl, then you get to come up with the girl name."

Natsu chuckled. "Will do, but you have to come up with the boy name."

Lucy yawned again. "Okay, Natsu. It's a deal. You find a girl name and I'll find a boy name." She closed her eyes, and within thirty seconds, she fell asleep, lulled by his heartbeat. Natsu smiled at the sight of his sleeping wife, then started his task of finding the perfect girl name for their baby. He gazed into the room, hoping for some sort of idea to come to him, when his hopes were granted. His eyes had fallen on the box that sat at Lucy's desk; the box of letters to her mother.

"Layla." Natsu smiled, happy with the way the name rolled off of his tongue. "Perfect." And with that, Natsu closed his own eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 _Knock Knock Knock_

Lucy groaned as the sound awoke her from her peaceful slumber. Somebody was at the front door, pounding pretty heavily. I should probably get up and see who it is.

 _KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

Lucy's eyes shot open. At the same time, her body was propelled upwards as the husband she was laying on darted up into a sitting position, startled awake by the pounding. _That isn't the front door, that's our-_

"Alright, that's it!" They heard Erza and Mirajane shout before the bedroom door was kicked open by those same people.

 _-bedroom door..._ Lucy finished her thought. She whipped around to look at the intruders, which consisted of Erza and Mirajane, who looked frustrated with each other, as well as a flustered Levy in the background.

"What the hell, guys? You woke me up!" Natsu whined sleepily. Then he shut up with an 'eep!' when he saw the angry requip and takeover mages.

"What are you doing here?" Lucy asked calmly. After getting out of her sleep clogged mind, Lucy wasn't too fazed by their appearance in her bedroom. She and Natsu's closest friends made breaking and entering each other's homes a common thing.

Erza spoke up first, with a sword pointed at her former, and apparently now current, rival. "Will you tell this woman that a demon is not suitable for godmothering!?"

Mirajane retorted, pointing a demonic hand at the redhead. "And would you tell this lady that an armored swordswoman is not suitable for godmothering, either!?"

Levy peeped up. "And would you tell both of these two that they should stop fighting over who gets to be godmother and just the parents of the baby decide?"

Before giving her attention to the mages in the forefront, Lucy addressed Levy. "What, you're not competing for godmother?"

"No. I got to be your maid of honor, I don't need to be your first child's godmother on top of that." Lucy smiled at the memory of her wedding, then shook her head in order to take care of the issue at hand.

"We can't wait any longer to know! Who's the baby's godmother!?" Erza and Mira shouted.

Natsu and Lucy looked nervously at each other. "We... Uh... Haven't talked about choosing godparents yet..." Lucy said.

Mira and Erza had a stunned look on their faces. "What!?"

Levy piped up again. "See? I told you that they probably hadn't decided yet. Let's go back to the guild so that they can! We're sorry for breaking in, guys!"

Natsu and Lucy laughed and waved her off. "We'll let you guys know once we decide on the godparents, alright?" Lucy reassured them. The fighting mages grumbled and started to leave, but then Mira turned around and made sure to say,

"You look quite lovely today, Lucy, I might add."

"Mira!" Levy upbraided the takeover mage.

"Hey, I'm competing for godmother of their firstborn! I'm not above flattery!" The married couple could still hear the ladies' bickering as they left the house. They both sighed in relief when they heard the front door slam shut.

"I suppose we'd better talk about who we want for the godparents." Lucy pointed out.

"Well, who do you think should be the godmother? The demon or the monster?"

Lucy put her finger to her head as she thought. "How about... Neither one of them?" Natsu whistled out a breath.

"They won't like that. Who are you thinking?"

"Wendy."

Natsu grinned his approval. "Yeah, she'd be good."

"She's already doing so much to take care of Baby, I think she'd be perfect," Lucy continued. Natsu grinned and gave his approval again. "But they're going to kill us."

"Correction. They're gonna kill you. I'm not the one that chose Wendy instead of one of them."

Lucy scoffed. "So that's how it is. You're just going to abandon your wife as soon as trouble comes. Maybe you just won't have a wife, then," she said jokingly.

"Hey! That's not what I meant! I'll only abandon you when you incur the wrath of Erza and Mira, is all!" Natsu joked back.

"'Incur'? That's a pretty big word for you," Lucy teased again.

Natsu grinned. "You used it when you were writing once."

A smile appeared on Lucy's face until she realized what he said and remembered the instance she had used the word. "Natsu! That one wasn't done yet! You weren't supposed to read it!" She whacked him, and Natsu mumbled out an apology with another grin. "Anyways, we've apparently decided on Wendy for god _mother_ , but who should be Baby's god _father_?"

"I don't know. How do you decide something like that?"

"It should be someone that will always be around for Baby, and will be a good influence; a good role model."

Natsu snorted. "We don't know any guys who fall under that second one."

Lucy laughed. "Maybe so. You can figure it out later. Right now, I want food again." Natsu's stomach growled to show his agreement. "I want... Orange chicken! With sticky rice! And fried rice! And eggrolls!"

"All right! Sounds great! Do you wanna stay here while I go into Magnolia?"

Sighing, Lucy said, "To be honest... Yeah. I don't feel like getting up. Sorry, Natsu!" Natsu laughed, then kissed her forehead as he clambered out of bed.

"Don't worry about it, Luce! You're carrying our child. I think you have 'staying in bed' rights!"

Lucy smiled in thanks to her loving husband, and soon after, he was gone, giving another kiss to her forehead before leaving. She patted her abdomen. "You're daddy is absolutely amazing, Baby." Kissing her hand and pressing it on her belly, Lucy continued. "I wonder if you _will_ be a girl, like Daddy says, but I still think you're going to be a boy. I wonder what we'll call you? Maybe I should start thinking about that." Just as Natsu had done before, Lucy trailed her eyes through the room for an idea, and her eyes were drawn to the white, scaly scarf strewn on the nightstand. Natsu had started wearing it less, as he was planning on giving the precious item to the baby, but that's not what Lucy was thinking about. She was thinking about who had gifted the scarf to Natsu.

"Igneel... That's it! If you're a boy, we'll call you Igneel, Baby! I can't believe I didn't think of it before!" Lucy smiled, imagining her husband's face once she would tell him the name she picked out. "Now that that's decided, what should we talk about now? Daddy's been telling you about everything Mommy and Daddy have done together, so why don't I tell you a story about my childhood, from before I met Daddy and before your Grandma Layla died! Alright..." Lucy began to reiterate her story to the unborn child, and about twenty minutes later, she was saying 'the end' followed by a 'welcome back' to her husband.

"Got the food! I'll bring it in to you!"

"Natsu, we are not eating Chinese food in bed!" Lucy may have started eating crackers in bed , but she refused to eat an actual meal there. She heard Natsu whine. "We can eat on the couch, just not the bed," Lucy followed. She heard a call of joy and smiled as she got out of bed and headed to the living room, where Natsu was setting down the take-out boxes. "Mmmm! That smells great!"

"Yeah! I got some other stuff, too, like beef and broccoli, but I didn't get any seafood, in case it's all seafood that makes you sick, and not just fish."

Lucy noticed the receipt attached to one of the boxes. "Holy- That's a lot of jewel! We _have_ to go on a job tomorrow! And a high-paying one, too, if we keep eating like this! Good job, Natsu, giving this kid your appetite! We'll always be broke!"

Natsu snickered, then spoke. "Hey, speaking of jobs, when are you gonna stop going on them? Are you sure it's safe for you to be going on them even now?"

"Natsu, we've gone over this. I know what my limits are for right now, and until I really start to get a baby bump, I'm not going to just stay home."

The addressee sighed. "Yeah, okay. I trust ya, Luce. Just... Be careful."

Lucy smiled and kissed her husband's cheek. "I know. I will."

They smiled to each other, then began to dig in to the array of meals Natsu had brought home as they started talking about their plans around the house for the baby. Neither one told the other the name they had come up with, though, deciding to tell once they talked about names again, which would turn out not to be until the night before they were to find out the gender.

* * *

 **A/N: In case any of you are wondering, Gray was Natsu's best man. I may eventually write a short companion fic of Natsu asking Gray to be the best man. Also, Mira and Erza were Lucy's other bridesmaids.**

 **ALSO HOLY MOTHERFORKING SHIRTBALLS DID YOU GUYS SEE THE HIRO MASHIMA THING AT NYCC!? I DIDN'T ACTUALLY SEE IT, BUT ACCORDING TO SOMEONE ON TUMBLR, HE WAS ASKED WHO NATSU WOULD THEORETICALLY END UP WITH, AND MASHIMA HELD UP A PICTURE HE'D BEEN DRAWING OF NATSU AND LUCY TO SAY THAT LUCY WOULD! AND THEN HE DREW THE NALU CHILD. Also the Gruvia child, but I don't ship Gruvia as much as I ship Nalu. To me, Gruvia is a standard sailboat and Nalu is an entire three Naval fleets, grouped with about five ship-shipping ships shipping shipping ships (look it up). Gajevy is just one of those Naval fleets (I like how I say _just_ one Naval fleet like it's a small thing).**

 **Anyways, we have names and the godmother decided now! Who will be the godfather? Seriously, guys, I'm asking. I don't know who to make godfather. Leave comments giving me a name and reason for who Natsu and Lucy should ask to be godfather, please!**

 **Thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows!**

 **Until next time!**


	5. 8 Weeks (2 Months)

**8th Week of Pregnancy (2 Months)**

"Lucy..."

"No... I don't wanna get up... I'm too tired and sore..."

It had been about a month since Lucy had found out about the pregnancy, which meant she was about two months along. Since then, she had found herself to be in ever-increasing discomfort.

"I know you are, Luce, but we're supposed to go see Wendy and Porlyusica so they can check up on you and Baby!" Lucy squinted her eyes open. Natsu was standing over her, a hand gently shaking her shoulder. She could vaguely make out an excited smile on Natsu's face through her mostly-closed eyelids. In order to see him more clearly, she opened her eyes completely. Lucy knew that Natsu hadn't been in bed for a while, but she was surprised to see that he was completely dressed and ready to go. It actually embarrassed Lucy, a little. Here was Natsu, all ready to leave, and here she was, lounging in bed. She also knew that Natsu didn't care, though. He luckily seemed to understand that pregnancy was tiring, even this early.

"No wonder you're so smiley. I'm excited to see how Baby's doing, too," Lucy remarked. Natsu nodded, then held a hand out for Lucy to get out of bed with. "I hope you're this eager to give me a helping hand when the baby's bigger."

Natsu grinned. "Of course!" Lucy didn't have a chance to reply before her bladder sent her to the bathroom.

* * *

"You all stink of humans, so let's get this over with."

Wendy, Lucy, and Natsu all sweat dropped at the greeting from Porlyusica, although they couldn't say they were too surprised.

"Good morning to you, too!" Wendy said cheerfully. Porlyusica gave her a look that was slightly less grumpy than the looks she gave to Natsu and Lucy.

"Come in, come in. Don't dawdle." Lucy laid down on the bed. "I'll have Wendy do a quick checkup scan to make sure everything is okay." At Porlyusica's instruction, Wendy's hands glowed blue, and she focused her magic energy over Lucy's body. It was a magical scan that instantly checked for problems. If there were any, then Porlyusica would do further checking into it to make sure it wasn't serious.

"It seems like everything's fine," Wendy claimed as her hands lost their blue aura. Lucy and Natsu sighed in relief.

Porlyusica commented, "Good. You'll be here for less time. I don't believe I told you last time, Lucy, but your due date is the thirtieth of March." Lucy and Natsu smiled. They couldn't wait until then. "How's your morning sickness been?"

"It's not all too bad. I always throw up at exactly 5:30 in the morning and 11:00 at night, but besides then, I haven't vomited too much," Lucy answered. "Oh! Unless I smell fish! If I smell even a whiff of it, I immediately vomit."

Porlyusica nodded. "It would be a good idea for you to stay away from all seafood, then. Any cravings?"

Lucy let out a shuddered laugh while Natsu snickered loudly beside her. "I crave everything! All the time! This baby is making me eat all damn day!"

Porlyusica shook her head with a slight smile. She knew the baby's father well enough to expect the baby to want a lot of food. "Now, I trust Wendy has answered all of your questions, so le-"

"Actually, Porlyusica..." Lucy interrupted. "Natsu and I had a question that we didn't really want to ask Wendy. We were wondering about, um..." Lucy and Natsu both looked uncomfortable, which caused Porlyusica to figure out what they wanted to know.

"Why didn't you just spit it out!? Yes, you two can continue to have sex while Lucy's pregnant. You just can't be too rough." Wendy spluttered and was blushing brightly, trying to ignore the cheeky looks the couple gave each other. Porlyusica ignored everyone's reactions. "Wendy, why don't you start the next part?" The girl nodded and smiled to Lucy and Natsu.

"I'm gonna do another spell on you now, Lucy," Wendy said.

"What will it do?" Lucy asked.

"It won't hurt Lucy or Baby, will it?" Natsu was concerned. He trusted Wendy with his life, but he didn't want anything happening to his beloved wife and child.

"No, no," Wendy reassured, "It will merely let you-"

"Why don't you let them find out what it does?" Porlyusica suggested with the tiniest of smiles. Wendy looked to Lucy and got a nod of approval. She lifted her hands over Lucy's stomach and another aura of blue surrounded the appendages.

"Wha-" Natsu started, but then he was interrupted by another sound.

 _Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump_

Lucy knew immediately what the sound was. She took her husband's hand and looked to him with a bright smile as she waited for him to figure it out. It took Natsu a while, but after about fifteen seconds of the steady thumping, Natsu's eyes widened and a grin spread across his face from ear to ear as he realized what he was hearing.

"It's Baby's..." Natsu started, squeezing Lucy's hand within his own.

"Heartbeat," Lucy finished.

Natsu's grin seemed to grow brighter, if that was even possible. His hand left Lucy's as his arms flailed in his excitement. "That's our kid, Lucy! That's my kid! I have a child, and that's their heartbeat! Lucy, that's our kid! Tha- OW!"

"You're going to knock something over!" Porlyusica squawked, breaking the moment and brandishing the broom she had just whacked Natsu in the head with. "Now, we're all done, so unless you have any more questions, get out! I have to clean the human smell out!" And the visitors were abruptly pushed out the door.

The trio headed back towards town. "Thank you, Wendy," Lucy started.

The bluenette smiled to the couple. "Oh, it's no problem. It's a simple spell. All it does is amplify the sound enough for people to hear." Seeing a confused look on Natsu's face, she added, "Otherwise, it's too quiet right now for even dragon slayers to hear."

"I didn't just mean that. I meant 'thank you for everything you've done.' You've done so much for us and Baby."

"Oh, no, it's Porlyusica who's doing ever-"

"But you're not being an old hag while helping!" Natsu interrupted. Lucy gave him a glare, effectively shutting him up.

"While Natsu didn't exactly choose the best words, he has a point. It's a lot more comfortable when you're around to help."

Wendy still looked nervous, "Well, yeah, I guess..."

"In fact," Lucy continued, "Natsu and I would like for you to be the baby's godmother."

Wendy looked shocked. "What!? But I- I- Not Miss Mira or Erza? You really want me!?" Lucy and Natsu both nodded. Wendy smiled, still a little hesitantly. "Okay..." Then she nodded, and smiled a bit more. "Okay! I promise to be a great godmother for the baby!"

"You already are!" Natsu told her with a grin. Lucy nodded to show her agreement. "Good! We're back at the guild! Are you hungry, Luce?"

"Yeah." She thought for a second. "I want two grilled sharp cheddar cheese sandwiches on rye with creamy tomato soup." Natsu repeated her order, then nodded as Lucy sat down at a table and sent Natsu to the bar. "Lots of butter!" She called after him.

"Luuuushi! How'd it go!" A familiarly happy voice called as the also jubilant owner flew to the table.

"Everything's fine with Baby still!"

"That's good! I'm gonna drop my stuff from Wendy's at home, and then I'll be back!" Happy said, holding up a big messenger bag full of whatever items he had deemed necessary for spending the night with Wendy and Carla. Lucy hummed her understanding and waved after as he left. Then, Lucy watched as Natsu waited for Mira to cook the food, and she remembered something.

"Ah... Wendy? You might want to go home..."

"Hm? Why?" The bluenette asked.

"Because Mirajane and Erza might try and kill you once we tell them that you're Baby's godmother." Out of her peripheral vision, Lucy saw two female mages' heads pop up at the words: a redhead and a whitette.

"Eep! I don't wanna die!" I take it back! One of _them_ can be godmother!"

Lucy laughed. "They'll get over it. You already accepted, so no take-backs!" Then, Lucy and Wendy felt dark presences behind them. A cold sweat formed on them, and they turned around to see what they feared.

"Did I hear correctly?" Erza angrily asked.

"I'm not the godmother!?" Mira followed. Lucy and Wendy nodded nervously.

"It was my idea to make Wendy godmother..." Lucy confessed, seeing her husband stock still with fear behind the angry mages.

"Is that so?" The redhead said.

"Wendy is godmother?" The whitette followed. After a nod, the speakers whipped around and each whacked Natsu hard in the head at the same time, then sat down with Wendy and Lucy, completely jovial and congratulatory.

Natsu darted up, hands over the bumps forming on his head. "What the hell!? Why'd you hit me!?"

The previously angry women scoffed. Mirajane started. "Well, it's not like we could hit Wendy or Lucy!"

"Exactly! Lucy's pregnant and we're too excited for Wendy to hurt her!"

That wasn't a good enough explanation for Natsu. "WHY'D YOU HAVE TO HIT ANYONE?"

"Because I'm not godmother," they both said simply. Lucy laughed quietly to herself at the expression on her husband's face, but unluckily for her, he noticed.

"Luuucyy!," he whined. "Stop laughing!"

The woman responded by laughing a little louder. "I'm sorry, Natsu, but you're making such a funny face!" Lucy calmed down and collected herself. "I'm sorry." She got up and hugged him, then beckoned him to sit in another chair at the table. "Mira, can you go get our food, please?" The once again cheerful woman nodded and smiled to her present company before leaving to comply to the request.

"So, Natsu and Lucy," Erza began. "Who would the godfather be?"

"Natsu hasn't come up with anyone, yet." Lucy replied. Her husband knew that the words held a subtle command for him to figure someone out, so he looked around at his guildmates for someone who would make a good godfather while Lucy chattered with the other girls at the table. Some time through his searching, Mira had brought the food out, and he bit into the sandwich he suddenly found in his hand.

 _Elfman? No. I don't want Baby's first word to be 'manly'._

 _Gray- definitely not._

 _Laxus? No._

 _Macao or Wakaba? No, not unless I want Baby to pick up some bad habits._

At the thought of Macao, another Conbolt crossed Natsu's mind. _Romeo._ He grinned. _Yes._

Scanning the guild hall for the fire-wielding teenager, Natsu finally noticed the boy on the other side of the hall, entertaining Asuka and her three-year-old little brother, Zach. Natsu smiled, seeing that his idea was a good one. He cupped his hands around his mouth to yell across the guild hall.

"HEY ROMEO!" Natsu called. Lucy whacked him for being too loud, and he just snickered in reply.

"WHAT, NATSU?" Romeo yelled back after a few seconds.

"WANNA BE MY KID'S GODFATHER?" Natsu could see him gesture towards the children to wait, and then he began to stroll over to Natsu. Romeo hadn't understood what Natsu said, only hearing incoherent yelling.

"WHAT?" He asked as he approached, not bothering to lower his volume.

"I SAID, 'WANNA BE MY KID'S GODFATHER?'" Natsu yelled again, also not getting quieter despite Lucy's glares, with a grin on his face. Romeo blinked as he realized what Natsu was asking him. Then, he grinned. By that time, he was standing right by Natsu.

"Yeah!"

"Good! Because I want you to be!" Natsu put his hand out for a fist bump, which Romeo gladly returned before heading back to Asuka and Zach.

Lucy sighed at their loudness, but then smiled to her husband. "He's a great choice, Natsu."

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for all the favorites, follows, and reviews!**

 **I said this on Idiots in Love, but it may be a while before you see more content from me. Life is making me busy right now, and I've also started writing another fic: a longer one. As per usual, I will not start posting until it's all done, so it may be a while before it gets seen. I will tell you that if you like Monarchy AUs, then you'll hopefully like it. I'll try to still write some more chapters of this as I'm working on the monarchy one.**

 **Until next time!**


	6. 8 Weeks (2 Months): Later That Night

**A/N: Oh, man, this is a super short chapter. I'm sorry. I meant for this to be at the end of the last chapter, and I just realized that I had forgotten. ;-; See, this is another reason I like to finish a story before I start posting. Because I'm pretty dang forgetful. I thought about extending about the last bit in this since it's so short and it's been a while since my last update, but I decided against it. This isn't _that_ kind of fic. Alright, despite the shortness, I hope you enjoy! (that's what he said haha I'm so sleepy I haven't gotten any sleep)**

* * *

 **8 weeks (2 months)**

 **Later That Night**

Lucy groaned as she entered the front door, very happy to be home. It was about midnight right now, so her pregnant stomach had already forced her into the bathroom for the night. She and Natsu had meant to go home before she was scheduled to get sick, but time had gotten away from the couple, and before they knew it, Lucy was throwing up in the bathroom.

Happy clambered onto the couch and grabbed the blanket that was haphazardly sitting there. "G'night," he sleepily called to his companions before turning over.

Lucy smiled to the exceed and patted his head before Natsu did the same. Then, they went into their bedroom. Lucy collapsed on her back into the bed and Natsu climbed in beside her. He gave her a kiss before going down to her still baby-bumpless belly. He kissed it, then laid his head lightly on it, his ear pressing against the cloth of Lucy's shirt on her stomach. Lucy could see him frown slightly after a few seconds. He then raised his head and moved Lucy's shirt up so that her belly was bare. Once again, he laid on it lightly, and was soon frowning slightly just as before.

Before Lucy could question him, Natsu sat up beside her and looked to her face. "I can't hear anything," he whined.

Lucy started laughing. "So that's- Wendy already told you that Baby's heartbeat is too quiet for even your ears!"

Natsu pouted. "Yeah, I guess." He layed down, and Natsu and Lucy were now facing each other. Lucy leaned forward and kissed Natsu's nose. He grinned at her and kissed her on the lips. "You know, Luce," he started. "That heartbeat sounded pretty girly."

Lucy gaped at Natsu. "What!? It was a _heartbeat_!"

"I still think that Baby's a girl."

Lucy smirked and rolled her eyes. Then, she rolled their bodies so that she was lying on top of him. She pressed a finger into Natsu's chest pointedly. Against her better judgement, she said, "Natsu, if you're so sure, then let's have a bet. I bet you 20,000J that this baby is a boy."

Natsu grinned up at her. "You're on. 20,000J." They shook on it before Natsu gave a short laugh. "Even though we share money."

"Alright, fine. If it's a boy, I get to use 20,000J of our money on whatever I want, and if it's a girl, then you can use 20,000J of our money on whatever you want."

Natsu snickered. "And I suppose 'whatever I want' will be diapers."

Lucy laughed as well. "Hey, you catch on quickly!" She leaned down and kissed Natsu, who eagerly kissed back.

When they separated, Natsu spoke again. "Hey, Luce? When'd Porlyusica say you were supposed to have Baby?"

Lucy thought back to earlier that day. "I think she said March 30th." They both grinned.

"I can't wait," Natsu said, and then they kissed again. Lucy pressed herself into him as they kissed. Natsu wasn't sure if it was on purpose, but his internal question was answered when they separated and he opened his eyes to see her hooded, dark eyes boring into his.

"Hey, Natsu," she whispered a little huskily.

"Y-yeah?" He croaked out, suddenly finding his mouth and throat dry.

"I can remember something else that Porlyusica said today." Natsu knew exactly what she was referring to. They'd both been wanting this for the past month. Natsu eagerly turned them so that he was lying on top of her, and they kissed again. Hard.

* * *

 **A/N: Again, I'm sorry it's so short!**

 **Anyways, news on the monarchy AU I've mentioned: It's called Lucid, and I'm almost done writing chapter two. That may sound like I haven't done much, but I tend to edit as I'm writing, so it always takes forever to get a chapter done. Once I finish writing the third chapter, I think I may post a preview of the first chapter. What do you guys think?**

 **See you next time!**


	7. 15 Weeks (3 months, 3 weeks)

**15 Weeks (3 months, 3 weeks)**

Lucy groaned as she looked over herself in the mirror. Her pregnancy had started showing a few days ago, so when Natsu had left on a job to get more funds for them, he insisted that she stay home, "just as you promised." Lucy would miss going on jobs for the nearly five months left, not to mention the months of Baby's early infancy, but she knew that Natsu was only wanting his family to stay safe. It spoke volumes that he made her stay home instead of letting her come and simply protecting her as he normally did. It reminded Lucy of that first night he had known of her pregnancy, when he had acted even more alert and guarding of Lucy and Baby than normal.

But that's not what Lucy had been thinking about as she stood in front of the mirror that morning.

"Natsu's never going to think I'm sexy again!"

Lucy whimpered as she watched herself turn in the mirror. Her beginning-to-be-big belly could be seen no matter what angle she looked at herself. "I'll be fat! I'll look like a walrus- no, a whale! And I'll have stretch marks, too! Wah!" Lucy's hormonal tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. "This really suuuuucks!" She whined, at both her predicament and her uncontrollable hormones.

That's when she heard the front door slam shut. "I'm home, Luce! And I didn't break anything!" Lucy's eyes flooded all over again, her insane pregnant mind creating a vision where Natsu saw Lucy "fat" and left, never to be seen again. Lucy glanced at her face in the mirror and saw that her eyes were completely red and puffy, but she just couldn't bring herself to care.

Natsu thought it was strange that Lucy hadn't greeted him home; she always did. He sniffed to ensure that she was home, as he'd assumed, and wasn't happy to smell the saltiness of tears. His ears also picked up sniffles of crying. "Lucy? What's the matter?" Natsu asked, concerned as he darted in the open bathroom door. Lucy threw herself onto him in a hug.

"Lucy, what's the matter!?" Natsu asked while he held her close. "What happened!? Are you okay!? Is Baby okay!?"

Lucy sobbed out her words. "I'm faaaaaaat!"

Natsu's eyes bugged out and he spoke in an incredulous tone. "Wait, what? You were just yelling at Happy the other day for calling you fat, and now you're saying it to yourself?" Lucy just sobbed harder. _Crap. Apparently not the right thing to say._ "You're not fat, Lucy!" At this, Lucy stood up from leaning on him.

"Look at how swelled my stomach is! And it's gonna get even bigger! I'll look like I swallowed Happy whole!"

"But- That's not fat! You have a baby in you! Our baby! The baby that we're going to hold in our arms in five months and love and raise to be the strongest wizard in Fiore!" As Lucy listened to Natsu's words, she finally calmed down, wiping her tears away and realizing that he spoke the truth. She wasn't fat; she was carrying their baby. Lucy started laughing, at both Natsu's last comment and her own ridiculous.

"Oh, jeez, I'm so sorry, Natsu." Natsu kissed her chastely on the lips to tell her that it was okay, and they both walked out of the bathroom and to the couch to sit down. Then Lucy recalled why she feared that she was fat. "But..." She continued hesitantly.

"But what?

"Do you think I'm sexy?"

Natsu's eyes popped again. "What!? You know I think you're sexy as hell!"

Lucy smiled at that. She did. Natsu proved it time and time again. Then another thought crossed her mind, one that wasn't a crazy pregnancy thought. "Will you still think I'm sexy if I'm fat?"

Natsu was confused. Hadn't he just addressed this? "You're not fat, Lu-"

"I know, but what if I am someday? What if one day, I'm actually fat?"

"We both do too much running around with jobs and such for either of us to get fat."

"Just answer the question, and be honest! Will you still think I'm sexy if I'm fat!?"

"Luce, you could be as fat as Droy and I'd still think you're sexy!"

"Wow, you're easy to please..." Lucy didn't say what she was thinking in so many words, but Natsu somehow got the implications.

"Wait... Er... I didn't mean it like that! You're the only one who I'm attracted to!"

"I know, I know," Lucy said feeling a little guilty, because she already knew that! Lots of the women in their guild were half-naked most of the time, and they were often spared barely a glance from Natsu. At least as far as 'checking out' went. Of course he still _looked_ at their friends, but it was different than when Wakaba _looked_ at their friends. Not that Lucy expected anything else. Natsu was the most loyal person she knew, even before they had been together. He showed his loyalties to his family, Fairy Tail, nearly every single day.

"I just meant that I'll be attracted to you no matter what you look like, because you're Lucy! It's _you_ I think is sexy, not your body!" Lucy smiled at his words, then decided to tease.

"What, my body isn't sexy?"

Natsu was flustered all over again, thinking that Lucy was legitimately offended. He had missed the teasing lilt in her voice. "Wait, no- Your body's definitely sexy! I mean, look at you!" He was going to compliment her features specifically, but he didn't know how to. He knew that women didn't like men to be so crude about them. Gildarts had made sure to teach him that, along with other things, when the father figure had discovered that Natsu was in a relationship. A lot of it, Natsu had figured out was bad advice, like 'ignore the girl when she's mad or you'll just get hit'. Natsu had known immediately that that one was dumb, but there had been some gems of relationship intelligence in there, like the dislike for crudeness thing.

As Natsu tried to figure out an eloquent way to say how big her boobs and ass were, he decided to just say, "I could prove to you how sexy I think you are..." Natsu tried for the sensual tone that he knew turned Lucy on, but it came out a little panicked.

"I was teasing, Natsu. Stop freaking out." Then, analyzing her thoughts, Lucy added, "My hormones are calmed down for now."

"That's good." He leaned in and kissed her sweetly, although Lucy could tell that just one move on her part would turn the kiss into fire.

Natsu leaned back after a few seconds. "Y'know," he started, his voice successfully going lusty now, "the offer still stands..." He kissed her again. "I'd love to show you again how much I love you."

Lucy smiled at him, but it was apologetic instead of the usual sensual one she sent him during times like this. "I'm sorry, Natsu..." She could see his entire being cringe in disappointment. "I would usually say yes, you know that, but I just really don't feel up to it right now..."

Natsu sighed and layed his head on her shoulder. "You don't have to apologize, Luce. You're allowed to say no."

Lucy kissed the top of his head. "Yeah, but I've only ever said 'no' before when I'm teasing you... I feel guilty..."

"You shouldn't. Especially not when you're pregnant. I know you're already exhausted from that." He shifted his head to look at Lucy's baby bump and smiled as he laid his arm over it.

Lucy smiled sweetly at him and rested her arm with his on her abdomen. "Natsu, you have got to be the best husband in the entire universe."

Natsu snickered. "So why aren't I drinking hot chocolate out of a mug that tells me that yet?" He lifted his head up from her shoulder.

Lucy laughed. "You really want a 'best husband' mug?"

"Yeah! It's good and cheesy, and I love cheese!" Natsu said, laughing at his stupid pun, which he thought was the cleverest thing ever.

"I know that," Lucy laughed again as memories flashed in her mind of the bounty of grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese bowls, and cheese quesadillas she'd made for Natsu or seen him eat. "All right, fine. For our next anniversary, I'll get you one."

Natsu scoffed. "Now it won't be a surprise!" Lucy rolled her eyes. "All right, where did we leave off last time?" Natsu asked no one in particular, referencing what he'd been telling Baby- everything that had happened to Fairy Tail since Lucy had joined. "Oh yeah! I was excited for this one! Lucy kicking that crazy evil swan lady's butt!"

Lucy laughed. "Oh right, you were telling Baby about how we defeated the Oracion Seis."

"Yeah! Okay, Baby, Mommy's gonna hafta tell you a lot of this, because Gray got me stuck on a raft and I can't remember too much besides wanting to throw up."

"Natsu, I've told you, that wasn't Gray. It was Gemini."

"Whatever. I'm sure Gray had something to do with it." Lucy rolled her eyes and chuckled again. "Anyways, like I said, Gray tricked me and hid a raft under my feet, so I was sick until Mommy saved my life, but I'll tell you how she did that a little later. First up: the fight!..." Lucy smiled and listened while Natsu told their baby about how she had defeated Angel, Lucy filling in details where necessary. She really couldn't wait until she would be able to hold Baby in her arms and tell these stories again while tucking Baby in for bed.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! I'm not dead! I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated. How long has it been? A month? Two? Anyways, like I said, I lack a bountiful amount of time, and I've been working on planning another project outside of the fanfiction realm. So, for a while, I was working on that during the time that I usually write fanfics.**

 **Alright, news on Lucid, for those who care: Chapter three's beta is about halfway done, and just as I said, once I finish that, I'll post the current beta of chapter one as a preview in order to generate responses. If I get good reviews on it, then I'll keep working, but if no one is interested, then I see no need for me to keep working on it. I shall hopefully post the preview within the next two weeks.**

 **That's all for now!**


	8. 18 Weeks (4 months, 2 weeks)

**A/N: Hey guys! Long time no see! Sorry it's been so long! In the little time I have to write, I've been trying to focus my efforts on Lucid, but I was stuck in a rut on that, so I decided it was time to work on Togetherness! On with the chapter!**

* * *

 **4 months, 2 weeks (18 weeks)**

"I'm so exhausted!" Lucy exclaimed as she and Natsu entered their home.

"I know, Luce. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let my fight with Gray go on for that long. I offered to carry you home!"

"Again, I'm not going to make you carry my heavy, pregnant self all the way home!" Natsu laughed and turned on their bedroom light as Lucy collapsed on the bed. "Ah! Turn it off! I wanna sleeeeeep!"

Natsu chuckled again. "Can we talk for a little bit first? We're supposed to see Porlyusica tomorrow again-"

Lucy darted up, her signs of exhaustion gone. "The gender! We'll find out what the baby is!"

"And I'll win 20,000 J!" Natsu snickered.

"No, I will!" Lucy insisted.

"I will!"

"I will!"

"I will!"

"I- what are we doing? We're acting like kids!" Lucy suddenly realized. "Let's stop debating on that. We haven't talked about names in a while. Did you come up with a good girl's name?"

"Yup!"

"Well, what is it?" Although Lucy could guess what Natsu would say next.

"I'm not telling! You first"

"Well, I wanna hear the girl's name before I say the boy's name!"

"Boy's name first!"

"We're acting like kids again!" Lucy exclaimed. "Fine! I'll be the adult here! I chose the name Igneel!"

Natsu hadn't been expecting the outburst and was all ready to tease his wife again. He was taken completely by surprise. "What did you say?"

Lucy smiled. "Igneel."

Natsu's eyes lit up and a grin spread across his face. "Really? You wanna name our kid after their grandpa?" Lucy nodded in confirmation. "Wow! That's so great! Except our baby isn't a boy! Baby is a girl named Layla!"

Lucy was taken even more aback than Natsu had been. "Wha- my mother- Wait, you actually remember Mom's name!?"

Natsu scoffed in fake offense. "Well, obviously! Of course I know your parents' names!"

"Oh yeah? What's my dad's?"

"Jimmy!" Natsu replied quickly.

Lucy laughed. "Well, points for confidence. His name was Jude." Natsu scoffed at getting the answer wrong. "Anyways, thank you, Natsu. I'd love to name Baby after mom!" Natsu grinned brightly, and then Lucy smiled jokingly. "Except Baby'll be a boy! Igneel!"

"Layla!" Natsu insisted, his grin also becoming a teasing one.

"Igneel!"

"Layla!"

"You'll see tomorrow that I'm right! I'm his mother, after all! I should be able to tell if Baby's a boy or a girl!"

Natsu snickered. "Yeah, yeah. We'll see tomorrow. My instincts are never wrong!"

"'Never wrong'? Yeah, right." Lucy finished as Natsu shut off the light and got back into bed.

* * *

Natsu and Lucy entered the guild hall to be hit with a flying, white roll of streamers. "HEY! WHO THE HELL JUST THREW THAT AT LUCY!" Natsu yelled at his guildmates as he glared around with a fist in the air and a protective arm across his wife. In the next second Natsu had run towards a guilty-looking Max, and Lucy heard a cry for help from the man. Lucy took a moment to look around the guild hall and see what was going on. All around the large room were all sorts of white decorations and guildmates putting them up. More streamers were wrapped around poles and railings, white balloons floated to the ceiling, and Lucy saw Mirajane setting out dozens of white frosted cupcakes on a table by the bar.

"Hey Mira!" Lucy greeted, strolling over. "What's going on? Why are you decorating?"

Mira whipped around at Lucy's voice, a finger in her mouth as she sucked some frosting from it. "Lucy!" She cried. "You weren't supposed to see!" Lucy gave Mirajane a questioning look. "Wendy told us that you guys would find out the gender of the baby today! She just left! She was going to meet you two at your house so we could surprise you with a party after the appointment!"

Lucy whined sadly. "Oh, that's too bad! That would've been a fun surprise! But how would you know the gender?"

"I thought it would be cool if you announced it by using colors magic on the white decorations! I bought a new package of it just for the occasion!" Mira replied, digging into a bag of party supplies next to her and holding up the item. Lucy smiled.

"Alright! Sounds good! Just a heads up, though, I'm almost certain that Baby is a boy!"

Mira laughed. "I think you've mentioned that. Natsu's sure it's a girl, though."

"I know that! He's insane! Baby can't be a girl! Not with the appetite I'm getting from them!" Mira laughed again. "Well, I'd better grab Natsu so we can find Wendy. Time to go see Porlyusica!" Mira waved the woman off, then went back to her cupcakes. Lucy couldn't see her husband, so she went to the epicenter of the chaos, where a bunch of the guys, including Natsu, were having fun with the balloons' helium. She stood in front of him and crossed her arms while her face held a look of annoyance, earning her husband a few nudges and looks of fear for his health from the other boys around him. Natsu blanched and cleared his throat as he let go of the still half-inflated balloon pinched shut by his fingers. It flew around him once before smacking Lucy in the chest. She raised her eyebrow and Natsu grew even more white-faced.

"H-" It had come out squeaky, so he cleared his throat again and started trying to speak in a comically low voice. "Hello, Lucy!" Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Oh don't even try. Come on. We've gotta head to Porlyusica's." Natsu nodded and stood up to follow his wife as she exited, high-pitched laughs and teasing trailing after him. Just as they'd left the guild hall, Wendy had run into them, red-faced in embarrassment that she hadn't found the two before they'd seen the party. Then, they headed to their appointment. Porlyusica asked Lucy all the normal questions, about how she'd been doing, how everything was going, the similar, then Wendy did her scan, found that no problems were arising, and they could start what Lucy and Natsu had been dying to know.

"Alright, let's see..." Wendy put her hands on Lucy's baby bump and closed her eyes to better focus her magic. A fuzzy projection of the baby appeared before them. It was difficult for Wendy to project the image like this, but she'd promised to try and do it as often as she could.

"You got it, Wendy!" Natsu announced. She smiled, but it was obvious she was a little strained. Natsu and Lucy knew they wouldn't have very long to look at their precious baby, so they looked to where the gender would be revealed.

"Hey Lucy," he started. "I don't see a thing."

"No... No! These things are read wrong all the time!"

Wendy and Natsu both laughed. "If I'm reading the chromosomes right," Wendy remarked. "Then Baby has two Xs. Baby's a girl!"

"My baby girl has the appetite of a dragon!"

Natsu snickered. "Well, she is the granddaughter of one!" Lucy sighed shakily.

"How am I ever going to feed you two...?" Natsu just laughed again and kissed his wife's cheek. Then, he put his hand next to Wendy's.

"Hello, Layla! I knew you would be my little baby girl! I told Mommy, but she just didn't believe me!" Lucy stuck her tongue out playfully at Natsu, and then added her own words.

"I love you, Layla. Very very much. We both do. But between you and Daddy, we'll always have an empty fridge!" She pressed a kiss on her hand and put her hand by Natsu's. Wendy's had moved at this point, and Natsu went to clasp Lucy's hand within his own. As they'd said, they had already loved Baby very much, but now that they could call her by name, they felt as if they already loved her an infinite times more than the abundant amount they had before.

"Let's go back to the guild, Luce! I wanna tell everyone about Layla! And show off that I was right!" He gave Lucy another grin, to which she responded with another stuck-out tongue. Standing up from the bed, with help from Natsu, of course, Lucy called a goodbye and a thank you to Porlyusica. Then, the three Fairy Tail members were headed back.

"Natsu, don't just burst in yelling about Layla. Mira is having us announce by changing the color of the decorations to pink, okay?" Natsu nodded, pouting a little that he couldn't tell everyone in his normal way. They opened the doors, Lucy slapped a hand over Natsu's mouth, and Mirajane handed Lucy the magic item. Lucy giggled as she looked around, especially at the scene by the cupcakes. Many guild members, most notably Happy and Droy, were basically drooling over the cupcakes while Erza loomed over them, probably to protect them until they were the proper color. That is, that's what Lucy assumed until she saw the cluster of strawberry topped cupcakes that Erza was more likely protecting. Some of the guys were still playing with helium, as well. Many members hadn't even noticed the arrival of Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy, since Lucy hadn't let Natsu yell that they were back. Lucy looked to the magic in her hand, read the instructions, and changed every white decoration in the room to a bright pink color. It surprised everyone who hadn't been paying attention, balloons being released and the pink decorations now flying around the room as they lost air. As people put two and two together, they looked to the doors.

"It's a girl!" Natsu finally shouted, unable to resist it any longer. As she went to sit down, Lucy heard shouts of congratulations and swore she saw the passing of money between many guild members, much of which seemed to be going to Cana and Mirajane.

"Mira! You thought Baby was a girl!? Even after I told you I thought she was going to be a boy!?"

Mira just chuckled in response. "Enough of that, though. Have you picked out her name?" As if Mira's question had summoned them, Erza, Juvia, and Levy were all surrounding Lucy as well, eager to know.

Lucy nodded excitedly as she put her hands on her baby bump again, but Natsu, of course, was the one to reveal it. "Layla! Her name is Layla Dragneel!"

"Layla... I like that! Where did the name come from?" Juvia asked.

Lucy smiled up at her husband. "It's actually Mom's name. Natsu suggested it." A chorus of 'awwws' resounded, and since Natsu could sense they were about to start chattering about more baby stuff that he wouldn't be able to put his input into, he gave Lucy a kiss on the cheek and ran off to grab a bunch of cupcakes.

"So, a girl, huh?" Gray asked as he approached his rival at the dessert table.

"Yup!" Natsu shouted as he stuffed a cupcake in his mouth. "Layla Dragneel!"

"Hey, what's it like?" When Natsu voiced his confusion, Gray continued. "You know, knowing that you're gonna have to be a dad in a few months."

"Oh, it's awesome! And I'm already a dad! Just because she's still in Lucy's belly doesn't mean I don't already love Layla and take care of her!"

Gray rolled his eyes but smiled at the sentiment. "Yeah, yeah, you love Layla. We've only been hearing about it for the past three months. But isn't it scary?"

"What? How can it be scary? I have a kid!"

"Exactly! Isn't it scary to think about how you have to raise your kid and how her life depends on you?"

Natsu was about to retort, but then he actually thought about Gray's words. "Woah," was all he could reply.

"Yeah."

"Why're you bringing that up, anyways?"

Gray sighed. "Juvia and I are thinking about having a baby, too, but I'm worried."

"Hey, that's great! That you want a baby, not that you're worried. But why do you think you gotta be worried? Sure, we're idiots, but that's why it's a team effort with our wives! So that they can stop our kids from being as big of morons as their dads!"

Gray laughed. "Yeah, I suppose so. With Lucy and Juvia, the kids wouldn't have a completely hopeless case." Natsu laughed as well.

"Just trust me, Gray. Sure, it's scary to think about how I'll have a tiny little baby that is totally dependent upon me, but I think the scariness is worth it. I can't wait to see Layla and be able to hold her and play with her. I can't wait to introduce her to all you guys and to teach her magic. I can't wait to celebrate birthdays and Christmas and all the holidays with both my girls!"

Gray gave his rival a rare word of gratitude. "Yeah. Thanks, Natsu. That does all sound great." Gray closed his eyes and began to imagine some of the things Natsu had described, but with a little blue-haired baby in place of a pink or blonde one. "Yeah..."

* * *

 **A/N: A little Gruvia for you Gray and Juvia fans out there :)**


	9. 23 Weeks (Five Months, 2 Weeks)

**A/N: Hello again, guys! A pretty quick update this time! I'm having writer's block on Lucid, and this chapter didn't take too long to write, so... Great for the Togetherness fans, not so great for the Lucid fans. Whatever. I'll stop blabbering and let you read.**

* * *

 **5 Months, 2 Weeks (23 weeks)**

Natsu and Lucy had had another check-up earlier that week. It hadn't been for anything in particular besides making sure Layla was still doing okay, but Porlyusica had reminded the couple of one little pregnancy quirk.

And that was the baby's kicking.

So now, as they sat on their couch this evening because Lucy hadn't wanted to leave the house, Natsu continuously bugged her with one question.

"Has she kicked yet?" Obviously, Natsu was unbelievably and unbearably excited for Layla to kick, and it was starting to annoy the hell out of Lucy.

"No," she grumbled in reply. Natsu got up to put their dirty dishes in the kitchen, and when he came back,

"Did Layla kick yet?"

"No." This was driving her nuts. And she felt like she could scream. She knew that if she just had even a minute to herself to calm down and collect herself, she'd be fine, but Natsu was being so clingy!

Natsu leaned close to Lucy and gave her a kiss on the cheek before putting a hand on her baby bump, still way too into her personal space. Usually, Lucy adored Natsu's affections and clinginess. She had learned a long time ago to give up personal space, as her husband seemed to know nothing about it or was inclined to learn, but right now... She was about ready to snap.

"I can't feel any kicking!" And that's what did it. That's what cut the thin line of Lucy's patience.

"I know you can't feel any kicking, because Layla hasn't kicked yet! I will tell you when she kicks! Now, get off of me!" Lucy stood up, hissed as she grew dizzy from standing too fast, and between the dizziness and the weight on her belly, Lucy wobbled back into sitting down.

"I'm sorry, Luce! I didn't realize I was being annoying!"

"What, my curtness and my grumbling weren't enough!?"

"A-apparently not." Natsu shrugged. "Just stay sitting, Luce, okay? I'll make you some hot chocolate, stop asking questions, and we'll just do something else, okay?"

Lucy closed her eyes and sighed, slowly letting her frustrations out. She opened her eyes to see Natsu still standing before her, obviously apologetic still from being such a nuisance. "What are you doing? Go make the hot chocolate my loving and idiotic husband just promised me!" Lucy yelled. Natsu 'eep'ed and nodded as he ran back to the kitchen to prepare her drink while Lucy took the few minutes away from her crazy husband to calm down.

 _He's just excited, Lucy,_ she told herself. _You should be just as excited! You're waiting to feel your baby kick!_

 _Well, I am excited!_ her other half debated. _Natsu's just been asking_ non-stop _since he found out about it!_

She retorted to herself, _Well, yeah, but he's been just like this the whole time you've known about the baby. And he probably just wants to know how hard Layla will kick so he can show off that his baby's already stronger than Gray or something like that._ Lucy giggled at the thought, glad to be giggling and the tension in her head already decreased, just as she'd guessed.

But just as she thought about how the pain in her head was gone, a sharp pain from her round stomach grabbed her attention. "Ow!" she shrieked when she felt it. "Ow, ow ow!"

Lucy heard a clatter and crash from the kitchen before seeing Natsu in front of her with a hot chocolate covered shirt. "What happened!? Did Layla k-" Natsu cut off his question, remembering his promise.

"Yes! She finally kicked! In fact, she freaking drop-kicked me! Layla, why are you taking so much from your father? I bet you'll have his pink hair, too!"

Natsu grinned at her last comments, then rushed back to the kitchen to grab Lucy's mug. After setting it down on the coffee table, he was immediately at Lucy's side again, hand on her baby bump to try and feel Layla's kick. A few seconds later, they both felt the kick again, right where Natsu's hand was putting pressure on Lucy.

"Wow!" Natsu exclaimed with a huge grin on his face. "That was a tough kick! You're already stronger than ice-butt!" Lucy giggled at the fact that her prediction had been correct. Natsu looked to his wife's expression, happy to see that she was smiling with joy instead of scowling in annoyance at him.

"She's such a daddy's girl. Listen, Natsu, I'm sorry for being so short with you," Lucy apologized.

"Hey, don't worry about it, Luce!" Natsu pressed a kiss to her lips. "I was the idiot who didn't notice how ticked off you were getting!" He snickered.

Lucy laughed as well. "Yeah, I know. This pregnancy is really tiring me out, though, and that combined with you asking the same question every two seconds... I needed just a minute to calm down."

"Well, let's go to bed if you're tired, then. Come on!" Natsu reached a hand out for Lucy to grab, then pulled her up from the couch, bracing her before she could fall over.

"Don't forget my hot chocolate!" Lucy reminded him. Natsu snickered before grabbing it. "What? I can eat it, er, drink it before I fall asleep!" Natsu just smiled in amusement.

It didn't take long for Lucy to fall asleep after they'd collapsed on the bed. Natsu smiled at his wife as he put her untouched mug on her bedside table. Besides the fact that he'd annoyed Lucy out of her mind, he was very happy with tonight. Just as when they could start calling Layla by name, the fact that he could feel her kicking made her feel all the more _alive_. And the fact that Lucy had made those comments about Layla taking a lot of his traits... It really made him feel like a dad. He grinned again at the thought of her kick and lifted the hand he'd felt it with to look at it, thinking that this was the closest he'd been to touching his precious child and that he couldn't wait until he could actually hear her and feel an actual kick of hers. The three and a half months left couldn't pass by quick enough. He grinned again before putting his arms around Lucy. Pulling her closer to him, Natsu heard her sigh happily in her sleep and snuggle into him. It was calm, quiet, and peaceful.

Until Layla kicked again and Lucy shrieked in surprise, throwing everything into a momentary chaos.


	10. 32 Weeks (8 Months)

**A/N: Hey guys! Back with another chapter!**

 **And still having writer's block on Lucid ;-;**

 **I haven't gotten much progress on that in a while...**

 **Anyways, y'all aren't here for Lucid, you're here for this!**

* * *

 **8 months (32 weeks)**

Lucy was on her way to guild hall, trying not to topple over onto her pregnant belly. Natsu was currently on a job, although he was due back sometime this morning. He'd been having to go on a lot of them lately in preparation of Layla, and it was very safe to say that Natsu and Lucy missed seeing each other with his absences. But they knew this was necessary so that they could give Layla everything.

"This last month cannot go by fast enough! I'm sick of having a giant pumpkin for a belly! And I'm sick of being stuck at home and away from Natsu!" She rubbed her belly. "Oh Layla, I just want you out of me!" she wailed. Lucy pitied the women that went through the summer months while being this pregnant. Even in February, Layla made for a very hot and sweaty Lucy often times.

Lucy turned to face down a road when she heard skipping feet and gleeful squealing from it. She grinned when she saw Juvia skipping towards her, spinning around and clutching her hands to her heart as happy tears threatened to form a river in the street.

"Good morning, Juvia! What's all the excitement?"

"Hello, Lucy! I just- I mean, I've guessed, but I just now- just this morning-" Juvia stopped her spinning and jumping and breathed out to calm herself. Lucy just smiled patiently at her friend. "I'm sorry, I'm just so excited! I should really tell Darling first, but with him off on a job with Natsu I can't right now and you know how I get overexcited and I would never be able to keep this a secret even for just a little bit and I've suspected for a bit but I-"

Lucy giggled, interrupting the bluenette's rambling. "Just tell me what it is!"

"Ah! Sorry! Anyways, I'm pregnant! Gray and I have a baby!" Juvia placed her hands on her abdomen and spun again as Lucy squealed and afterwards tried pulling Juvia in for a hug, proving difficult thanks to Lucy's own pregnancy.

"Juvia, that's so exciting! There's gonna be two little babies running around the guild! Come on, we have to go tell the girls!" Juvia nodded eagerly as she allowed Lucy to drag her in the guild hall's direction.

Once at the bar with the other girls, namely Erza, Levy, and Mirajane, Juvia's eager rambling and excited announcement were repeated.

"That's so great!"

"I'm very happy for you!"

"Now you've gotten started on those 33 babies you always wanted!"

Juvia scoffed at Mirajane's reference to her love-crazed imagination of the past. She'd really grown since then.

"I don't think we'll be having 33 anymore. Maybe just two or three," she laughed.

Before anyone could comment any longer, the doors burst open.

"Hey guys! We're back!" Natsu and Gray cried as they entered. Natsu was then immediately by his wife, his arms wrapped around her as they shared a kiss.

"So the job went well?"

"Yup! Made lots of money! How's Layla?"

"Layla's fine, just making her mommy tired," Lucy laughed. "But speaking of babies..." The girls all pretty much simultaneously nudged Juvia in order to get her to share the news with her husband. Juvia just placed her face in her hands as her cheeks reddened and she squealed in happiness again.

"What?" Gray questioned.

"Gray Darling, I-" she looked around to see the company staring at her, and with a flush, she decided to stand up, lean to her husband's ear, and tell him. "I'm pregnant!"

Gray, for lack of better word, froze at the whispered news. His eyes were wide and his expression went slack-jawed as Juvia giggled at her husband's reaction.

Finally, Gray managed out words. "You-you are? You have a baby in there?" he asked, pointing to Juvia's abdomen. Natsu gave a loud 'oh' of realization and a grin as he figured out what everyone was freaking out about.

"No," Juvia told him as she clasped his hands. " _We_ have a baby in here."

Gray grinned and kissed her forehead. "Holy shit, that _is_ scary." He gave a shaky laugh. "But... dare I say it... Natsu was right. It's so, so exciting. I couldn't be happier. Wow, we have a baby!"

"'Natsu was right'?" Lucy repeated as a question to her husband.

Natsu laughed sheepishly. "We had a talk a few months ago. Don't worry about it," he told her with a grin.

Lucy leaned into his chest. "Alright. I won't. But I'm glad you're happy enough to admit it to Gray." She leaned up and kissed his cheek.

"Of course I am! Layla is our daughter! A little baby that we made!" Natsu put his hand on Lucy's belly, earning a couple of kicks from Layla. Anytime Natsu touched the baby bump, Layla kicked right where Natsu's hand was.

"But can we?" Lucy and Natsu heard Juvia ask her husband.

"I don't know, ask the couple that's been dealing with a pregnancy."

"What?" Lucy questioned.

"Ah..." Juvia started. "We wanted to know if we could go, you know, have a 'private celebration'."

Lucy and Natsu laughed. "Yeah, you can. Just don't be too rough with her, Gray!" Lucy said.

Natsu snorted. "More like Juvia can't be too rough with him." Gray rolled his eyes at the jab.

"Just hurry back so you can tell the rest of the guild! It's your turn to be bombarded with questions from our overexcited guild!" Juvia just chuckled shakily before her husband dragged her out.

Lucy smiled and kissed her own man. "I'm glad Layla will have someone to play with."

"Nah, she's not playing with that slanty-eyed bastard's kid," Natsu joked.

Lucy playfully whacked her husband's head. "Whatever you say."

* * *

 **A/N: And there you have it!**


	11. 37 Weeks

**A/N: Hello again, guys! I don't really have anything to say, so here's the chapter!**

* * *

 **37 weeks: two weeks before the due date**

Lucy awoke to the wonderful smell of fried eggs, bacon, and...

Pickles? Lucy laughed as she recalled the last couple times Natsu had cooked eggs and bacon for breakfast. It had been a while, but the first time he had since the pregnancy began was back in the midst of her cravings, and she had demanded pickles as an accompaniment.

Lucy carefully rolled out of bed and stuck her feet in the slippers sitting next to it. Mavis, those slippers were amazing. Wonderful support for her back and the added pain her belly gave it and as comfortable as if fairies themselves had crafted them.

"You know," Lucy started as she toddered into the kitchen. "The cravings stopped a long time ago." Lucy giggled at Natsu's reaction. He knew perfectly well that her cravings had stopped, so the sudden stillness that came over him as his head turned to the dill spears in the frying pan was laughable. He immediately plucked them up and chucked them in his mouth.

"Force of habit," he chuckled as he began making their plates.

"Well maybe if you made eggs and bacon more often, then the habit would've broken," Lucy teased.

Natsu stuck his tongue out as he set their plates down and helped Lucy into her chair. "Well, you've been sending me on so many jobs! When could I have made breakfast? But now I'll make breakfast for you every morning, cause now I'll be home until after Layla's born!" Lucy coughed as she ate a particularly dark piece of egg. "And I'll even try not to burn the food so much!"

Lucy laughed. "Hey, you've gotten better since you started having to cook more!"

"Well, now I'll be getting even more practice, because I'm not going on any more jobs until after Layla gets here!" Lucy sucked in a breath at the second reference he'd made to their deal. Lucy had told him that once they reached 37 weeks, then she wouldn't make him go on anymore missions, as Natsu didn't want to risk missing anything. But now that they'd reached this point... She wanted her husband to be home, that was certain, but she couldn't help but worry about money.

"Actually, Natsu, I wanted to talk to you about that..." Lucy reached for the folded piece of paper on the table that was the flyer she'd picked for Natsu.

"What?"

"I want you to go on one more mission." Lucy dreaded his response. He'd been fighting a lot about going on jobs. He wanted to be here to help her, which she was grateful for, but they still needed funds!

"Luucyyy!" Natsu whined. "You said 'two weeks'! That's what you said! I want to be here!"

"I don't know why! I'm a total bitch-"

"You're not a-"

"Shut it! Most guys would be looking for excuses to get away from their pregnant wives!"

"Okay, yeah, it does kinda suck how needy you are, but I love you and don't want you miserable!" Lucy grumbled at her husband. "Lucy, please listen!"

"I am!"

"I don't want to risk missing something! I don't want to come back and find out that I missed Layla being born!"

"Come on, Natsu! There's still two whole weeks until the due date, you can get one more mission in!"

"Luce, please! We have enough money to get by for now, we've gotten everything we need for Layla, and I can go on another job after everything's been settled!"

"Natsu, I understand what you're saying, but I don't want there to be some emergency thing we have to buy and suddenly be without money! Layla's not supposed to be here for another two weeks! You have enough time to go on just one more job! Just to supplement the money we have!" Natsu just grumbled again. "Look, it's the kind of mission you like!" Lucy pointed to the flyer again. "It's monsters! You love fighting monsters!"

"But I love my family more!"

"Please, just this last one. It'll take you just a day or two. I'm worried about running out of Jewel."

"And if we do, I'm sure someone at the guild could help us out."

"I don't wanna have to beg for money from our guildmates. Please?"

Natsu groaned and sighed before stuffing the rest of his bacon in his mouth. He sighed again after, and as Lucy tentatively watched him, he took the flyer.

"Yeah, okay. It shouldn't take too long and it's good money."

"Thank you, Sweetie!"

"Yeah, yeah. But you can't get mad at me for not being here if you have Layla while I'm gone!" Natsu insisted.

"Yes, of course!" Natsu gave a kiss to both his wife and her baby bump before sighing again.

"Layla, don't come out until I get back, okay?" He kissed Lucy again. "I love you."

"I love you too. Be safe!"

He grinned at her as he opened the front door to leave. "Of course! I'm always safe!" Lucy rolled her eyes. Natsu just snickered as he walked out the door and left.

Lucy gave her belly a light pat, feeling a kick in response. "I didn't mean for Daddy to leave so quickly. He could've waited a little bit. But I think he just wants to hurry up and finish it so he can come back to us." Lucy smiled. "Maybe I'm being too paranoid about funds. I probably should've let him stay. I did say two weeks, after all." She sighed. "Oh well. We could always use more money. And Daddy understands."

Lucy finished up her last few bites of breakfast. "You're gonna miss Daddy, aren't you? You always seem a bit happier when he's here. Such a Daddy's Girl." Layla kicked again, as if confirming Lucy's feeling. Lucy smiled. "I know he can't wait to see you. Neither of us can. We're both so excited to be able to hold you and kiss you and hug you-"

And that's when she felt something.

Lucy's eyes grew wide as she realized what it was and sputtered. "Oh God. That was- Oh my God!" Lucy jumped as best as a pregnant lady could out of her chair as she let out a few more "oh my God"s. "Uh, what do I do!? Oh my God! I- Natsu!" She darted to the door and swung it open. In her loudest voice, she yelled, knowing Natsu's dragon senses would let him hear her.

"NATSU! MY WATER JUST BROKE!"

And after a pause,

"LAYLA IS COMING!"


	12. Together At Last

**A/N: And here's the next chapter! Half of it I'm not too fond of, but the other half I really loved writing and really like! (Bet you can't guess which half is which :P)**

* * *

"WENDY! LAYLA'S ON HER WAY!" Natsu shouted as he kicked open the door to the guild hall. He barely stayed to give his message before he was running again, his pregnant wife in his arms. Wendy quickly recovered from shock and started running after. The rest of the guild shouted in happiness, debating on who got to go with as well, knowing full well that Porlyusica wouldn't want the entirety of Natsu and Lucy's friends there. Ultimately, Levy and Mirajane were decided upon. Juvia would probably have gone also, but she'd been spending much of her pregnancy at home, usually not feeling up to going anywhere. It was hitting her hard.

"Natsu, you don't have to carry me!" Lucy shouted before groaning in pain as her first contraction hit her. "Oh God! That hurts more than I thought!" Layla was coming, and fast.

Natsu gulped, hating to see his wife in pain. "And that's why I'm carrying you!"

When they arrived at Porlyusica's, she didn't give them the chance to explain before she started bitching about the unscheduled visit. It was only after Lucy cried in pain of another contraction that Porlyusica realized the situation.

"Lay her down on the bed! Wendy, cast a pain relief spell! And for heaven's sakes, boy, wipe that worried look off your face!" Natsu gulped at her order as he layed Lucy on the bed.

Lucy rested her hand on his cheek tenderly. "She's right, you know. You don't have to worry so much."

"But you're in so much pain!" Sweat had already begun to gather on her forehead.

Porlyusica whacked him in the back of the head. "It's called labor. Get over it. She's a bit early, but everything's going to be fine." Natsu nodded, but he didn't look any less concerned.

Suddenly, Lucy gripped his arm as she screamed. "Oh God, this hurts! It hurts, it hurts! Make it stop! Naatsuuu, make it stop!"

"Wendy, help her!" Natsu shouted in worry.

"Natsu, I've done all I can. She's under a pain relief spell already, and any more could possibly harm Layla or bring even more complications," Wendy calmly told him.

"She doesn't seem to be very 'relieved'!" Natsu shouted, gesturing towards Lucy, who was now sweating profusely and breathing heavily in between contractions. He held her hand, which she had taken to squeezing when she was under an immense amount of pain.

"Wendy!" Lucy cried, "Is it done yet!? Please tell me I'm done!" Lucy screeched in pain again.

"Lucy, you're not dilated all the way yet. You're only at three inches." Porlyusica informed her. Lucy whimpered at the news and Natsu just squeezed her hand. He hated seeing her in so much pain! And he couldn't do anything!

"We're here!" Mira and Levy announced as they came in the door carrying various items.

"And we brought ice chips, courtesy of Gray!" Levy added, handing a cup to Lucy.

"Good, good, now get out! I'm crowded! No extras but the father, and I'm not even sure if I want that!"

Natsu barely noticed Porlyusica's comment, head spinning in worry over Lucy and Layla. "She's gonna be okay, right? Lucy's gonna be alright!? And Layla!?"

"I've already explained to you that she'll be fine! But it's going to be painful! Don't you know anything!?" Porlyusica shouted in frustration at the boy.

"Natsu, please stop worrying so much! Please, I'll be fine! I am fine!" Lucy said while crying.

"But Lucy-"

"That is it!" Porlyusica suddenly screamed. "You are aggravating her! Get out! You cannot be in here! You're making it worse for Lucy!"

"But-" Natsu whined.

"No, don't make him-"

"Both of you shut up! Natsu is not going to be in here!" She pointed at the door. "Send the blue haired one in! She'll have to be Lucy's support instead, since you can't manage to stop crying!"

As Lucy yelled again, Natsu squeezed her hand one last time before Porlyusica started whacking him with a broomstick, urging him out.

"Natsu, Natsu, I love you!" Lucy called to him in a slightly delirious manner.

"I love you, too!" Natsu replied. Porlyusica glared at him to get out, and finally, he listened. What had he done to her!? He was the one to make her pregnant! He was putting her through this pain! He felt like he was going to be sick.

Everything seemed... foggy to Natsu. He could barely answer Mira and Levy's questions as he went outside. The whole world seemed to be moving in slow motion but at the same time it seemed to be moving faster than normal. Natsu felt himself get dizzy as he tried to process what was happening and what the blurry shapes around him all were. The only thing clear to him was Lucy's voice, and all he heard from it was pain. He saw someone rush inside Porlyusica's house and he felt someone guide him into sitting down. He could hear who he assumed was Mirajane say something, but he couldn't make it out. He closed his eyes and focused his ears on what she was saying. It still sounded weird, kind of like he was underwater and trying to listen to someone above water talk, but at least he could understand her.

"Natsu, Lucy's gonna be okay," Mira reassured him. Natsu vaguely felt himself nod. "I know you're worried, but you don't have to be." Natsu opened his eyes, only to see more blur and a spinning forest floor.

Natsu didn't know how long he'd been in there with Lucy and he certainly didn't know how long he'd been been out here, but he thought he could hear someone shouting "push!" or something like that from inside. Natsu was still having trouble focusing on anything. His senses had all gotten worse. His sight just showed a blur of colors and lights, his ears couldn't differentiate voices and sounds at all other than Lucy's, his nose couldn't tell what he was smelling besides some of Lucy's blood, and was he laying down now? He could've sworn he was just sitting up... Was Mirajane fretting over him? He thought that was her voice all concerned. Natsu tried to focus on her. It was still weirdly muffled like before, but he thought he heard something about "burning up". Now that he thought about it, he did feel really warm. He felt something cold get put on his forehead. Was this the container of ice chips? No! Those were for Lucy, he couldn't use them! He shook his head, but that just made everything worse. The thing didn't fall off, and after a bit of concentration, Natsu realized it was a wet cloth of some sort, not Lucy's ice.

Natsu groaned in response to his terrible headache. Nothing made sense, nothing was clear to him anymore. Why was he so delirious!?

And then a sound cut through his confusion. The bluriness, headache, and cloudiness disappeared when he heard it. He sat straight up, the cloth falling from his forehead. It was the sound of a baby crying.

Before Mirajane and Levy, who had come back outside so that Natsu could meet Layla first, could say anything, Natsu darted in the house, mouth gaping and eyes wide. The first thing he saw was Lucy. Tears formed in his eyes as he looked to her, who also had tears. "They're cleaning Layla up," Lucy said, giving an exhausted gesture to the other room. She gave him a tired smile. Lucy was sweaty and looking very tousled, but she really was okay. Natsu had a newfound respect for moms. How did they do all that screaming and shove a baby out of their body and be smiling a minute later!?

Natsu pulled Lucy into a hug. "You're amazing. I love you." He gently kissed her forehead. Lucy chuckled.

"I love you, too."

They leaned into each other in comfort before Lucy gasped. "You know what I just realized? We never even talked about middle names! We have to fill out the forms later!"

Natsu shrugged. "I kinda forgot those existed. Does she really need one?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I guess not, but I wanna give her one." She thought for a second before grinning. "And I've already thought of a great one!" Natsu gestured to tell her to go ahead. "Atlus! Layla Atlus Dragneel!"

Natsu grinned. "Yeah, that's great." He nuzzled her neck. "I love you."

"Love you, too." This was followed by more comfortable silence before Natsu thought of something.

"That seemed really quick," Natsu commented, referencing Lucy's labor.

"Quick!?" Lucy gaped at him. "That was the longest three hours of my life!"

"Three hours!? Is that how long it was!? I really was out of it, wasn't I?"

"Well, I don't know! I was a little busy pushing a baby out of my vagina!" Lucy laughed and sighed. "Seriously, though, what happened with you? I know Mira said something about you being weird."

"I don't know. I got really dizzy and felt sick. I just hated how much this was hurting you. I felt guilty about making you pregnant..."

Lucy sighed. "Natsu, we talked about that..."

"Yeah, I know, this was all for our family, but still!"

Wendy cleared her throat. "Not to interrupt, but I think there's someone who'd like to meet you." She walked over to the couple with a bundle of cloth in her arms, but Natsu could see an arm tiredly reaching out. Lucy smiled widely and reached her arms out for Wendy to give her Layla. Wendy did so, then quietly took her leave. Natsu just stared in awe as Lucy adjusted the swaddle so they could see Layla's face. Her eyes were closed, she had a little hat on, and most of her body was tucked tight in the blanket, but her arm was still up, hand slowly opening and closing as she apparently started figuring out how to work it. Natsu and Lucy grinned at each other before looking back to their baby. Natsu carefully reached his finger to her tiny ones and his heart skipped a beat when she wrapped her hand around it.

"She's so tiny..." Natsu said through a choked up throat.

"I know," Lucy replied through an equally large lump. She coughed out a joyful sob.

Layla gave a big yawn. As her head moved due to it, her hat fell off.

"Whoops," Lucy laughed. Layla opened her eyes and tried to meet Lucy's with them.

"Hello!" Natsu quietly greeted in happiness. Layla shifted her eyes to try and look to her father's and successfully did so.

Lucy gently grazed her fingers on Layla's soft hair. "Pink," she laughed. "She has pink hair just like yours. And hazel eyes just like yours. She looks just like you." Lucy couldn't stop grinning as she leaned her head on her husband.

Natsu laughed. "Nah, she has your cute little nose." Natsu poked it, and Layla scrunched her face up. "And she's got that adorable face you make when you're annoyed." Lucy looked at him and inadvertently made the face. Natsu leaned in and pressed a kiss to his wife's nose. She responded by kissing his lips.

They heard Layla whimper before she was full on crying. "Oh no, sweetie, what's the matter?" Lucy brought the baby closer to her body while Natsu wrapped an arm around his wife and leaned in to be closer to both of his girls. Lucy started slowly singing a lullaby her mother had often sung to her. "La la loo, la la loo, I love you, little starsweeper... la la loo, la la loo, I'll sweep the stardust for you..." Natsu started to quietly hum along as he got the tune.

Levy, Mirajane, Wendy, and even Porlyusica watched in adoration. "Awww..." Mirajane couldn't help but say. "So sweet. Those two are gonna be great parents." The others nodded in agreement.

As Layla was lulled into slumber by her parents' lullaby and said parents also looked too close to nodding off, Porlyusica discreetly took Layla from Lucy's arms. The new mother gave a whimper before cuddling into Natsu's side, both drifting to sleep.

"Let them sleep," Porlyusica told the others. "That means 'get out'." Mirajane and Levy didn't think for a second that she was kidding and headed back for the guild hall.

At 11:37 A.M. on March 16th, Layla Atlus Dragneel was born.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed!**


	13. Family

**A/N: Hey guys! It's been awhile! Sorry it took so long to update, first I just had so much trouble with it for whatever reason, then I was on vacation and did absolutely nothing, and then I was working on Lucid...**

 **Oh yeah, and then I realized that March is not 9 months after May, which would've been when Layla was conceived... I don't have the files anymore to change it to January or whenever her birth month should've been, so... Let's just ignore that inaccuracy... Whoops.**

 **Lucid update, though, I finally finished chapter 12! For whatever reason, chapter 12 was super hard to write. I've been working on it for months! Luckily, 13 has been flowing right out, and would probably be done by now if not for the aforementioned vacation. I'm working on it though, guys! I haven't abandoned it! Although my original goal of having it done in a year will probably not happen... November of 2017 was when I first posted the preview of chapter one, and I feel like it's coming fast...**

 **I also have to start college in a couple weeks, so that'll get in the way ;-;**

 **Anyways, I'll stop blabbering one now. Here's Togetherness Chapter 13!**

* * *

The entirety of the Fairy Tail guild was waiting in eagerness and not an ounce of patience. Wendy had just come from Porlyusica's house and announced that Lucy and Layla were both happy, healthy, and cleared to go home. They would be arriving at any time to introduce the newest member of the family.

When Layla was born, she weighed five pounds and eight ounces. Although she was a little small and had been born early, Layla was in perfect health, just as Porlyusica had told Lucy and Natsu during the labor.

Happy was watching out the window for Natsu and Lucy. He had visited Lucy after the birth, but Layla had been sleeping and Porlyusica kicked him out for getting overexcited, so he hadn't met the baby yet, either. The only guild members who'd really been able to spend time with Layla were Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy.

Suddenly, Happy jumped up from his spot. He was out the door with a grin on his face before anyone could say anything.

"Guys!" he shouted with excitement to the couple. He was quick to hug both of the new parents, though mindful of the bundle currently in Lucy's arms. "How is she? Can I see her!?" Happy asked.

Natsu laughed. "Layla is just fine, and of course you can meet her! She's gotta meet her big brother Happy!" Happy had stars in his eyes at the title.

"Let's just wait until we're inside, Happy, 'kay?" Lucy offered. Happy nodded, then lead the way for the couple.

Natsu threw the doors open. "We're baaaaaaack! And we brought the most beautiful, adorable little girl to ever exist!" Natsu took Layla from his wife and held her close as he quickly strode to the bar to let her honorary grandfather meet her before the rest of the guild could swarm around.

"She's beautiful, Natsu," Makarov smiled to the proud, grinning father. "Drinks on the house!"

Mirajane was one of the first ones up to coo over the new baby. "Oh she looks just like you, Natsu! I didn't get a good look at her at Porlyusica's!" Others were quick to agree as they looked at her.

"So cute!"

"Adorable!"

Natsu and Lucy grinned wider with every comment toward their child. Layla had wide eyes and stared at every person who came to greet her. She seemed to take a liking to Erza especially, trying to reach her hands to the woman.

"Erza, I think she likes you," Lucy told her. Erza's eyes sparkled at the news, and Natsu carefully handed Layla over so Erza could hold her. Layla was quick to grip a chunk of the bright crimson hair that hung down, and even though it hurt a bit, Erza couldn't help but grin.

After the fuss over Layla had died down, Lucy and Natsu realized that there'd been two faces missing from the crowd. "Mirajane, where are Juvia and Gray?"

"At home, I think. We still haven't been seeing too much of Juvia."

"Aw, that's too bad." No one from the guild knew any details about why, but Juvia's pregnancy had been causing her issues like fatigue and much worse morning sickness than Lucy's had been, although Lucy's hadn't been bad compared to many other moms. She also wasn't able to use very much magic without simply fainting. "Natsu, do you wanna stop by their house and let them meet Layla?"

Natsu grinned. "Of course! I've gotta show off my beautiful little girl!" Natsu gave Layla a kiss on her forehead. He'd already shown to be a very huggy-and-kissy father to match his rank as a huggy-and-kissy husband. The couple waved their goodbyes and were out the door.

Before too long, they were knocking at Gray and Juvia's. Gray opened the door and before noticing who it was, hissed, "What do you want!? Juvia's trying to sleep!"

Natsu glared, but Lucy stomped on his foot before Natsu could start fighting with Gray. "Oh, sorry! I thought you guys would want to see Layla!" Lucy responded

Gray chuckled sheepishly. "No, sorry for getting like that. She's just been really tired lately and hasn't been able to sleep. But hey, that's great for you guys! I heard the news the other day! Glad everything went fine!"

"Yeah!" Natsu agreed in excitement. "And she's the best little baby ever!" Natsu held her out a bit for Gray to see.

Gray smiled, imagining when he'd be able to show off his own baby and prove that his was better than Natsu's. "Well, I'd invite you in, but..."

"But nothing," they heard Juvia say from behind him as she approached. "I wanna meet Layla! Bring her in!" She could see the worried look on her husband's face and playfully slapped his shoulder. "I can sleep later! It's not every day some of our best friends have a baby!" Gray rolled his eyes, but stepped aside from the door.

They all sat down in the living room, Juvia holding and cooing over Layla. "Oh, she's so darling! She looks just like her father!" Natsu grinned proudly as he always did after the remark. Gray smiled as he looked at who was essentially his niece. Juvia noticed his gaze and smiled at him before kissing his cheek. "Just six and a half months, Gray," she remarked.

"Speaking of which," Lucy started. "Any news?"

Gray sighed. "Nothing about why she's been having issues, no. Wendy and Porlyusica both say they can't find anything inherently wrong, but they're both trying some different things to figure it out."

"Well, hey, that's good!" Natsu said. "At least it seems like the baby is fine, then!"

Gray and Juvia smiled at their friend's optimism. "We did pick out a name, though," Juvia told them.

Lucy gaped. "What!? It took us months until we settled on names!"

Juvia laughed. "Yes, we know. It was Layla's name that kind of gave us inspiration, though. Darling, wanna tell them?"

Gray nodded. "Gold. For a boy or a girl."

"For Silver," Juvia added. "Gray's father."

"Gold. I like that," Lucy told them.

"Yeah. It's a good name. But Layla's gonna kick Gold's butt." Natsu laughed, then started tickling the baby girl he'd taken back from the expecting couple.

"Oh yeah, right, Natsu," Gray jabbed back. "Gold will easily wipe the floor with Layla!"

"Oh really? You think a snowman's kid can take down the daughter of a fire dragon!?" By this point, Lucy had quickly taken Layla back from Natsu, sensing a fight would be starting any minute.

"Darling, if you're going to fight, do it outside!" Juvia cried. "The house can't take it!"

Natsu and Gray listened to her and darted to the backyard to continue their fight about who's kid was going to be more powerful. Juvia and Lucy laughed, and at hearing that, Layla gave her best attempt at a smile. Lucy and Natsu had seen that infant grin a lot. She was really trying to smile!

"Some things never change," Lucy laughed when they heard somebody ram into the back wall of the living room.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Also, I realized I haven't been saying this, but thank you so much to everyone that reviews, favorites, and follows. I don't have the time to thank you all personally, but I appreciate it so much! You guys are who keep me going!**


	14. Adjustment

**A/N: Hey guys! I don't have much to say except I'M GOING TO COLLEGE ON SUNDAY!**

 **That is all! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

When Natsu and Lucy brought Layla home, they didn't think they could ever stop smiling. She was their daughter, their little bundle of joy, and every moment with her felt magical and beautiful. Neither thought they could even attempt to let their grin falter.

That is, until she woke them up at midnight, and then again at three in the morning.

As the crying resounded, the parents woke up, and when Natsu (who was quickly and silently decided upon to check on the baby with one look from an exhausted Lucy) blearily approached Layla's room, he still couldn't help but smile when he saw her. Even when he discovered that Layla was hungry both times and so Lucy needed to get up anyways and feed her.

And then similar circumstances happened again the next night.

These times, Lucy was the one to get up and see what was the matter, and just like Natsu the night before, even through her exhaustion, she couldn't help but smile, even when it turned out once that the newborn just wanted to be held by her father.

It kept happening over the next few days, and with each night, their smiles fell just a little bit. Happy had started staying with Carla and Wendy again, not being able to stand it. But Natsu and Lucy could. They could handle it, they thought.

She just had to be fed and maybe a diaper change, but it never took too long. She was never inconsolable!

Right?

"Bouncy, bouncy baby girl! Bouncy, bouncy baby girl!" Lucy cried in a sing-songy, yet frantic voice as she bounced her daughter in her arms in an attempt to calm her down. It was two in the morning, and Layla simply refused to stop crying. There also happened to be a thunderstorm raging outside, the first one since the baby had been born, so a brand-new experience for her. Currently, Natsu was searching the house for two things: Layla's pacifier and Layla's stuffed dragon. Natsu had found the toy just a few days ago, a red stuffed dragon that Natsu thought looked kind of like Igneel, and Layla had seemed to take a liking to it. Whenever Natsu waved it around her like it was flying, she always seemed to calm down.

Layla had been home for almost two weeks now, and neither parent had gotten a proper night's sleep since.

"Natsu, I really do think she might be scared of the thunder!"

"Yeah, I know that!" he called back. "I just don't know how to calm her down! Did you try feeding her again?" Natsu called from Layla's bedroom floor, where he was looking underneath her crib for a pacifier. He gave an excited yelp when he saw one finally and was quick to grab it and stand back up.

"What was that!?" Lucy shouted right back, not able to hear Natsu over the crying.

Natsu walked back in the living room. "I asked if you tried feeding her again. I'm gonna go wash this," he added, lifting up the pacifier.

"Of course I tried feeding her again! I've tried twice now! But I guess I'll try again!" Lucy conceded. "Layla, honey, are you hungry? Let's go sit down, okay?" Lucy asked as she sat on the couch to try feeding Layla for the third time since she woke up.

From the kitchen, Natsu heard Layla stop crying for just a second before spluttering and starting up again. "Here, try the pacifier!" Natsu suggested as he ran back into the living room, the pacifier clean again. While Lucy pulled her shirt back on, Natsu took Layla from her and tried putting the pacifier in her mouth, which was almost immediately spit onto the floor.

"Here, I'll take her again, you can try the dragon!" Lucy cried. Natsu nodded and swiftly passed the baby to his wife after holding her for less than a minute.

"Whoosh! The dragon is flying!" Natsu cried, making sweeping twirls around Layla with the stuffie. "Whoosh!" Layla was quiet for just a little bit, seeming like she was going to calm down and perhaps even go to sleep before a crack of lightning outside started her right back up with her crying.

The dragon wasn't working now. "Natsu, what else should we try!?" Lucy asked in desperation as she started bouncing the girl again, not having any ideas left herself.

Natsu pulled at his hair in frustration. "I don't know! We could- no, you tried that, I could- No!" Natsu gave a quick sniff, then groaned in frustration again. "And it's not a diaper change! Argh!"

"Maybe you could try holding her again? She always likes how warm you are!" Lucy offered.

"Yeah, I'll try it," Natsu agreed, taking Layla back. He held Layla close to him, doing the same kind of bouncy motion that Lucy'd been doing. She seemed to calm down after a good while, Lucy being correct in her notion that Layla loved her father's warmth. She took after Lucy in that regard. The parents sighed in relief as she seemed once again like she could fall asleep.

And then the lights flickered.

Then they were gone.

And with the sudden loss of the sight of her parents, Layla started crying again.

Lucy was quick to act, taking Layla from Natsu in order to reassure her that she was still there. "Sh, shhh, Layla. Mama's right here. Natsu, some light?" Natsu nodded, although no one could see it, and he lit his fist, casting a warm glow within the room. Layla stopped crying with a seemingly surprised hiccup when the light began to shine. Lucy turned Layla so she could see Natsu. "See, Layla? Daddy's right there! We're okay!"

Layla stared at her father. Or rather, her father's fist. She was mesmerized.

"Natsu, she stopped crying!" Lucy shouted with glee. Natsu nodded his head in acknowledgment, a huge grin splitting his face.

"I think she likes fire, Luce!" Natsu commented proudly.

"I guess she's never seen it before," Lucy agreed. "Have you really never used your magic around her until now?"

Natsu shrugged. "Guess not." He leaned closer to his daughter, holding the fire at a close distance for her to see. "D'ya like fire, Layla?" Layla hiccuped in response as she continued staring, lazily waving her arm towards it.

"Natsu, not so close!" Lucy warned.

"Relax, Luce! You really think I'm gonna let my fire hurt my precious baby girl? It's never hurt you, has it?" Lucy rolled her eyes, but had to concede that he did have very good control over his magic. Natsu focused his attention back on Layla and her fascination with his fire. "Yeah, that's pretty, isn't it? Your mama thinks so, too, even if she's acting all worried right now." Lucy scoffed, making Natsu laugh. Layla gave her sorta-grin at the sound.

The lights flickered back on just a couple minutes later. For Layla, the novelty of the fire light bouncing off her face was lost a bit, at least in favor of taking care of the hunger that suddenly struck her. Natsu laughed and put the fire out on his fist as Layla wiggled in her mother's arms while smacking her lips.

"You're finally hungry, huh? Alright, let's go eat," Lucy laughed, heading to sit down on the couch. "Let's hope this storm lets up so you don't get scared again."

"Well, if she does get scared, then she has Mommy and Daddy to protect her!" Natsu blew a kiss to Layla before the baby began eating.

"Natsu, you don't have to wait up. I'm sure she'll go to sleep just fine after she has a full tummy again." Natsu nodded, realizing that Lucy wanted it to be quiet so that Layla could fall asleep. He headed back to their bedroom, although he was too excited from being up and awake to fall asleep. Laying down on the bed, Natsu started playing with fire in his hands, seeing it in a bit of a different light knowing how fascinated his daughter was with it.

Just over a half hour later, Lucy came into their bedroom after putting a sleeping Layla in her crib. She smiled at the warm grin on her husband's face as he looked at his magic in a way she'd never seen. "You're excited, aren't you?" she asked as she crawled in next to him. "With how much she seems to love fire, I mean."

Natsu turned his grin to her, not bothering to extinguish the flames in his fingers. "She really likes it! She- she could be a dragon slayer, Luce!"

Lucy smiled at him as she cuddled up closer into his side. "Yeah, she could be. She could be a powerful fire wizard, just like her daddy." Natsu just grinned at that again.

"You haven't used your magic since we brought Layla home either, have you? She hasn't gotten to meet your spirits!" Natsu realized as he finally let the fire dissipate so he could wrap an arm around her.

Lucy's eyes widened. "Oh no, why didn't I ever think about letting them meet her!? Oh, I'm horrible!"

Natsu laughed as he pulled Lucy on top of him to hold her closer. "You are not horrible. You've just been a little preoccupied taking care of Layla. She is a newborn! Heck, I haven't even really used my magic since she arrived, and you know we're busy if I haven't burned anything down!"

Lucy laughed. "Yeah, okay. But let's not put it off! I'm sure they're eager for the news!" Natsu hummed in agreement. "We'll have to see if she can go to the spirit realm or not."

"Yeah," Natsu replied, pressing a kiss to Lucy's forehead. She smiled at him before pulling his face back towards hers and captured his lips. "We should probably go back to sleep now, Luce, shouldn't we?" Natsu asked, obviously not inclined to the idea.

"I'm too awake now from getting Layla back to bed," Lucy told him. "Aren't you?" she asked him, cuddling even closer. Natsu thought he could feel her rub a certain part of her against a certain part of him and let out a shaky exhale at the sensation as his eyes dilated. She wasn't suggesting they do that... Was she?

"Yeah, I'm not tired at all," Natsu replied simply.

"I can think of something to do if you don't wanna sleep..." Lucy told him, dragging her fingers in random patterns around his face and neck.

"Like what?" Natsu asked, still not wanting to misinterpret her and push her into sex while she was still healing.

Lucy frowned and sat up. "Oh come on, Natsu! I've never had to work so hard to get you to pounce on me!"

"So you do want to," Natsu didn't bother hiding his grin now, but he still hesitated. "You aren't still healing?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Damn, I appreciate how much you care for me, but you've been annoying to try and get into bed since I became pregnant! We haven't had sex in almost five months and I want to goddamnit!" Natsu blinked at her tirade before bursting out laughing, covering his eyes with his arm as the giggles shook him. "What's so funny!?" Lucy demanded. Natsu moved his arm from his eyes after he stopped laughing and Lucy saw how heated they were. He was now practically exuding desire and after merely a second, Natsu had flipped them over, holding himself above her and staring at her with that look and that smirk and oh God she hadn't realized just how much she missed this. "Okay, but you still have to be a little gentler than you used to be! It's only been two weeks since..."

Natsu smirked before diving down to start sucking at her neck. "Will do," he told her in between kisses. "I want to feel, kiss, and love every bit of your body. It's been a while and I want to be able to appreciate this."

Lucy gave a shaky moan, both at his words and the fact that he had found a sensitive spot underneath her jaw. "Mmm... I've missed this," she told him before finding his lips and giving him a deep, sensual kiss. "I love you."

"I love you, too." They kissed again, each running their hands across the other person, reminding themselves how every line, curve, and bump felt. Natsu moved his hands to the edges of Lucy's shirt.

 _CRACK!_

Lightning had hit not too far from the house, jerking Natsu and Lucy from their stupor. They laughed when they realized what happened, before diving back in for a kiss and to resume.

"WAAAAH! AAAAAAH AAAAAAH!" came the crying from Layla's room.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for the follows, favorites, and reviews! Have a nice day!**


	15. Celestial Introductions

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry this is such a short chapter. Also sorry that it took so long to finish an 1,200 word chapter. I didn't really know how to end it. But I hope you like it!**

* * *

"Natsu, look!" Lucy called from Layla's bedroom as she got the baby dressed and ready to go. "Her onesie fits her now!" Lucy didn't bother waiting for Natsu to come see, instead going to him. With a wide smile on her face, she showed him Layla, wearing the 'baby dragon' onesie that Lucy had used to announce her pregnancy to Natsu in the first place. "See? It's not too big anymore!"

Natsu grinned. "She's our growing baby!"

"Yes she is!" Lucy directed to Layla in a baby voice. "You're getting bigger! Are you getting bigger?" Lucy laughed as she began playing with her little girl while Natsu watched with a fond and loving smile.

"Kinda neat that it fits her the day she was supposed to be born," Natsu commented. Yes, today was the thirtieth, Layla's due date. It was the day she was originally supposed to be shown the world for the first time. Of course, Natsu and Lucy both couldn't be happier that she'd arrived early. They'd been able to meet their precious baby girl that much sooner, not to mention Lucy had been sick of being pregnant.

Lucy suddenly gasped as she felt a surge of her magic burst through her. "Loke-" she gasped out, recognizing his magical signature. Before Natsu could voice his concern, Loke popped into the room in front of them, obviously nervous.

"Lucy, we know it's the thirtieth now in the human realm and that's your due date, right!? How are you!? Do you need to go to the hospital yet!?" and then Loke realized what he was looking at. "You- that's a baby!" Loke was wide-eyed as he pointed at Layla. Natsu and Lucy laughed.

"Yes, this is a baby. Layla Atlas Dragneel," Lucy told him. "I'm sorry you haven't met her yet! She was born two weeks ago, but we've just been so busy-"

"That strain we felt just a bit ago!" Loke suddenly realized. "That must've been your labor!"

Lucy nodded as she went to approach Loke. "Would you like to meet her?" she asked. Loke simply stared at the baby as he attempted to register that this was not only a child, but Lucy's child. Lucy smiled and handed Layla over, adjusting Loke's arms around the baby.

"She's..." Loke finally reacted in the form of a small smile. "She's precious, Lucy. Sure to be a beauty," he smirked.

Natsu smacked him at the comment. "Stop trying to flirt with her," he demanded with a glare.

Loke and Lucy just rolled their eyes at Natsu.

* * *

It turned out that it would not, in fact, be safe for Layla to enter the spirit realm, which Lucy could easily figure. It was barely safe for grown adults such as she and Natsu to visit, so of course a newborn infant would not be able to go.

Lucy was saddened by the fact that Aquarius would not be able to meet Layla yet, and, although she would never admit it, so was Aquarius. She couldn't wait until the time came that she would be able to meet the granddaughter and daughter of her admittedly beloved previous masters. Aquarius couldn't help but wonder how the baby would turn out. Would she have any of the grace and poise of her namesake? Or would she inherit the spunky and adventurous personality of her mother?

One by one, Lucy made sure to let each of her spirits meet the baby. Of course, it had been drawn out across a couple of days, per Natsu and Loke's insistence. The new mother was already constantly tired from taking care of Layla and they both refused to let her collapse after using too much energy summoning her spirits.

Layla had taken an instant liking to Plue and Aries especially. Plue had immediately loved the baby, as well, liking to play with her and dance for her to try and make her smile, but Aries had been wary at first. "Oh no, Lucy, I can't hold her! I'm sorry! I might drop her and I could never do that! I'm sorry!" Lucy had smiled as she helped Aries hold Layla the right way anyways.

"See, she likes you!" Lucy had insisted as she watched her daughter coo with happiness as she played with a bit of the wool on Aries' wrist. After getting over her nerves, Aries couldn't help but smile and love the girl, as well.

Layla had not been fond of Taurus or Scorpio. They were both a bit scary-looking to the infant. Neither of them had been particularly affected, either, just giving the usual. "Oh, she's so cute..." and then not knowing what else to do or say, but they had both vowed to always protect the baby.

Horologium had been a bit indifferent as well, and hadn't stayed very long before Layla started crying, to which he announced "It's time... for a diaper change," before disappearing.

Crux had announced that Layla had a great amount of innate magic power before falling asleep.

Virgo had offered her help watching Layla if Natsu and Lucy ever needed it. "If she ever cries while I am taking care of her," she had started. "Then you must punish me."

Cancer had been gushing from the moment he saw her in his own special way. By the time he left, Lucy and Natsu both felt like they'd heard the word "baby" far too many times.

Sagittarius also vowed to protect the baby with all his might, even picking out the arrow with which he would "bring to justice" anyone who dared harm her.

Capricorn had been like a proud father meeting his first grandchild. He had happily played with the child and even offered to change her diaper. He made sure Natsu and Lucy were aware that he was always available to call.

Gemini had been eager to meet the baby, but perhaps part of the reason was because of their mischievous nature. Lucy made them promise not to play any pranks using their transformation magic until Layla was a bit older.

And finally, Lyra had whined that Lucy hadn't called her in so long, as usual, forgetting again that her contract claimed that she was to be called merely three days a month. After insisting that she stay for tea and snacks when Layla had fallen asleep during the visit (isn't the host supposed to insist, not the guest?), she demanded to be called the next time the baby needed a lullaby. When Layla had been startled awake a few moments later by what Natsu had figured out was a bird pecking on her window (why a bird was pecking on her window, Natsu didn't know), Lyra got her chance to help, lulling Layla quickly into sound sleep again with a song.

Lucy was so happy to finally introduce the new member of her family to her spirits. Of course, she was still tired even though Natsu made sure she limited herself. It went without saying, but Natsu had pretty much taken care of Layla after the last night of summoning. Lucy had made sure there was enough milk in the fridge, that Natsu and Layla had both gotten a good night kiss from her, and then gone to bed just past seven. But she went to sleep smiling and happy. She couldn't wait to do even more with her family.

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 **A/N: I know the whole writing thing is "show don't tell", but I didn't think enough of the spirits had important enough reactions to Layla to be able to write out all of the meetings.**

 **Also, Lyra's ended up being long compared to some other more important spirits. Don't ask me how that happened. Maybe it's just because I have a strange amount of love for Lyra. I wish she could be used more in the show. Also I wish Lucy was enough of a strategist to use more spirits than just Loke and Aquarius. There's so many ways she could use a bunch of the spirits that we never see, but Lucy is definitely not a strategist ;-; Mavis would've been great as a Celestial wizard, would she not have been?**

 **Thanks for the reviews and favorites and follows! Please leave more reviews! I'd like to get feedback from more than one or two people a chapter! See you next time!**


	16. Insecurities

**A/N: Hello again, guys! I was stuck on what to write for this chapter, because I have something coming up in the story, but I felt like there would've been too big of a time gap between the last chapter and the thing, so then a friend suggested I do something like this!**

 **Hope you like it!**

* * *

Lucy was out with the girls today. Layla was almost three weeks old, and she and Natsu were doing a kind of experiment to see if she was okay being taken care of by only one of them so that they could start doing jobs again. Now that he thought about it, Natsu didn't know exactly why they'd decided to have him watch the baby alone first, but he hadn't argued at Lucy's suggestion.

"So Lucy, how is it with the baby?" Levy finally asked her friend as they sat down at a cafe for lunch. She and Erza had refrained from asking about Layla all morning, figuring that this was a bit of a break from the baby, but they were excited to know how the family had been doing, as they hadn't been to the guild in a little while. And knowing Lucy, she'd probably love to chatter about her child.

"Oh, it's been great!" Lucy said with a wide grin after taking a sip of her herbal. "It can be frustrating, at times, but I love her so much! I just love her small, chubby, adorableness, and her wide, hazel eyes that stare at the world in wonder, and her soft, pink hair that already acts stubbornly and is in constant disarray just like her father's..." Lucy trailed off a bit and let her grin fall as she said the part about Layla taking after her father, then gave a small smile to her suddenly concerned friends. "Yeah, she's really taking after her father. Was super interested in his flames the other day, the night of that storm..."

"Lucy...?" Erza questioned.

"Hm?" Lucy suddenly snapped out of her thoughts.

"Is something wrong?" Levy voiced both she and Erza's concerns.

"No, no... Nothing's wrong. Everything's... fine. Layla's happy, Natsu's happy..."

Erza and Levy gave each other a look of worry. Something was going on with Lucy. She'd been so joyous to have Layla and start her family with Natsu. What had changed? Did she regret having a baby? But she'd been so excited! "But what about Lucy? Is Lucy happy?"

Lucy's stature suddenly straightened as she nodding her head. "Yes, yes, I'm happy! Of course I'm happy! I love Layla with every bit of my heart! I just..." Lucy trailed off again. She hadn't admitted these anxieties to anyone, not even her husband, and she didn't really know how to say them.

But her friends urged her on. "Lucy..." Levy reassured gently, making sure Lucy knew she could tell them anything.

"I just don't know if Layla really needs me," Lucy finally blurted out.

"What do you mean? You're her mother!"

"She's taking after Natsu in almost every way," Lucy explained. "And she has such a connection to him. A lot of the time, he can just hold her and she'll calm down. I need Natsu to help me take care of her because she loves her father so much, but after she moves off breast milk... I just don't think he'll -they'll- need me. When Natsu suggested we try taking care of her with just one of us so the other could go on jobs, I... I got scared! I just can't, guys! Layla needs Natsu! I can't do it alone! I pushed for Natsu to take care of her today so I could try and figure this stuff out, but we all know that Natsu will be going on jobs most! What happens then!? Wha-" Lucy was suddenly interrupted by her friends wrapping their arms around her in a hug.

"It's going to be okay, Lucy," Erza told her.

"Even if it doesn't seem like it now, Layla certainly loves you."

"You're an amazing mother, Lucy. You cherish your daughter and you'll do anything for your family."

"And you said she was taking after her father? If that's the case, then she has to love you more than anything!" Levy reminded her.

"Yes!" Erza agreed. "She has to!"

"I know neither of us have kids and that we can't really relate to your issues, Lu, but I just know it'll be okay. If it doesn't seem like she's connecting with you now, then I'm sure she will in the future." Levy told Lucy.

"What I think you need to do," Erza started, "is tell Natsu how you've been feeling. He can probably make you feel immensely better about this than we can."

Lucy nodded. She hadn't wanted to tell anyone, especially not Natsu, but now that Levy and Erza had pulled it out of her, telling her husband seemed much easier than before. She could do it.

"Do you want to go now?" Levy suggested. "Erza and I won't hold it against you if you bail on lunch," she teased.

Lucy smiled. "Yes, I'd better go and talk to Natsu now before I lose my confidence again. This morning was great, guys," Lucy told them as she stood up. "I can't wait to do it again sometime." The girls all said their goodbyes, and then Lucy was headed back home.

* * *

"How long... how long have you felt like that?" Natsu asked his wife as she finished telling him her concerns. When Lucy had arrived home, Natsu had just gotten Layla down for a nap. He felt so dumb for not noticing that something was off with Lucy. He was usually particularly conscious of her emotions! He felt so horrible!

"Since... since about a week after Layla was born," Lucy hesitantly replied.

Natsu shook his head. "A couple of weeks already!? Why- Why didn't you say anything!?"

"Because..." Lucy sighed. "Because I was afraid. I was afraid feeling like this made me a bad mother..."

"Lucy, you're a fantastic mother! You love and cherish our daughter with every bit of your heart! You're not a bad mom at all!"

Lucy smiled. "Yeah, I just... I wish I could calm her down like you always can..."

"Lucy, she likes when I hold her now because I'm warm, remember? You're the one that figured it out!" Natsu laughed. "But when summer comes, she's probably gonna hate me for that! I mean, there's been times, remember, that you won't even let me hold your hand in the summer because it's just too hot!" Lucy laughed, as well. Natsu really could always make her feel better. "And I think Layla takes after you more than you realize. Every time she's staring at something in wonderment, Lucy, I see you. She may have my eyes, but the gleam in them is yours."

Lucy smiled as she leaned into her husband, seeking his warmth in the same way Layla so often did. Maybe the girl was taking a bit from her mother. Natsu wrapped his arms around her and they stayed like that for a good while, loving the moments of peace and comfort with each other.

After just a few minutes though, crying resounded from Layla's room. Lucy immediately darted up to go check on her and Natsu found himself once again dumbfounded by the fact that she thought she was a bad mother. Natsu listened as Lucy started singing her lullaby to the baby, who calmed down fairly quickly. Natsu grinned at that and began approaching Layla's bedroom.

He was greeted with the sight of Lucy rocking Layla in the rocking chair, softly singing to the nearly-sleeping girl. Lucy was smiling as wide as she could through her singing. He watched his daughter's wiggling and cooing gradually slow down until she was asleep again. Lucy sat and rocked her for just a bit more before standing up and laying Layla in her crib again. She quietly gestured for Natsu to leave as she herself began to.

"That was fast," Natsu commented. "How'd you know she needed to go back to sleep again?"

"Because that was her sleepy cry," Lucy remarked, as if it was obvious and required no further explanation. Natsu made it clear that she did need to explain, though. "She cries differently when she's hungry, needs a diaper change, is tired, or just wants attention."

"See, Luce?" Natsu pointed out. "I couldn't even tell you that! Don't ever think you're a bad mother, Honey, okay? Not while you do everything you can to care for your children."

Lucy nodded with a smile and a blush. "Yeah, okay. Thank you, Natsu."

"Not sure what I did," he laughed, "but you're welcome." Lucy laughed as well and gave his cheek a peck. "Why don't you go find the girls again?" Natsu suggested. "Continue your day?"

Lucy smiled and looked back in the direction of Layla's room. "No. I'm good. Actually..." Lucy turned back to Natsu. "Why don't you go find Gray or Gajeel and fight them or something. Let me take care of her this afternoon."

"Yeah?" Natsu replied. "You sure?"

Lucy nodded with confidence. "Yes. I want to."

Natsu grinned. "Okay." He gave her a kiss. "I love you. Call for me if you need help."

Lucy waved him off as he left the household then closed the door behind him. She could do this.

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 **A/N: Thank you for reading, reviewing, etc.! I appreciate everything!**


	17. Issues

**A/N: Nothing much to say here at the beginning, but I feel weird not having a note here, so enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Lucy watched with a smile as Erza and Mirajane gawked over and played with the two-month old Layla. The baby was adored by the guild and Mira and Erza especially loved to play with her any chance they got.

Layla had started really smiling about a week ago, and Lucy and Natsu would never forget the first time they saw it. The family had been sitting on the couch after just finishing breakfast. They had been planning on heading to the guild, maybe look for a job for Natsu, but right then Lucy was reading a book to Layla while Natsu listened and came in to voice the assortment of creatures, including a dwarf, goblins, and a fierce dragon, of course.

"The little girl approached the bridge, this time prepared for the troll's trickery. 'I'm back!' she called, not stepping on the planks yet. The troll's gruff voice boomed out,"

"'So you still think you can outwit me!? We'll have to see about that!'"

Lucy had laughed again at Natsu's ridiculous and overexaggerated voice for the troll before continuing her narration. "'Come on out and face me!' the child challenged. 'It will be no fun to beat you if I cannot see you!' The beast grumbled, but jumped out from his spot under- Natsu look!" Lucy interrupted herself as she'd noticed the expression on her child's face. At her shout, Natsu had noticed it, too - a grin. "Natsu, she's smiling!"

"Yeah, I see it!" Natsu grinned, too, feeling overwhelming joy at the sight of his daughter's adorable, toothless smile. "Keep reading so she keeps smiling!"

"Right! Okay... The beast jumped out from his spot underneath the bridge..."

Needless to say, they'd spent the rest of the day trying to keep her beautiful smile on her face.

The infant had a grin on her face even now, prompted by the silly faces some of her honorary aunts were making. "A couple of fangs, and that grin would look exactly like her father's," Levy commented to her friend.

"Yes, I noticed. Natsu's absolutely ecstatic about it," Lucy laughed. "But I wanted to ask you... Layla's here, Juvia's four months along... What about you? Have you and Gajeel talked about a baby yet?"

Levy sighed thoughtfully. "I think we're gonna wait, for now. We both definitely want kids in the future and we wouldn't be opposed to it or upset if I got pregnant now, but neither of us are too crazy about having them at the moment. And besides, I don't think the guild can handle having three little guys at once!"

Lucy laughed. "Yes, that might be true, although it's managed to survive our husbands! Mostly..." Levy laughed along with her, nodding in agreement.

"Hello, girls!" Juvia greeted the group, approaching from the entrance to the hall.

"Juvia, hi!" Lucy replied as the others gave their own greetings back.

"Are you feeling better? We haven't seen you in a while," Mira asked.

"I am, actually! I haven't been feeling so drained these last couple of days and I can even use my magic again!" Juvia punctuated her excitement by forming a sphere of water in her hand.

"That's great, Juvia!" Erza said. "I'm glad things are getting better for you." About a week ago, Juvia's condition had suddenly gotten worse, the woman lacking the energy to even get out of bed, being a bit feverish, and feeling like every bit of magic in her body had disappeared. Porlyusica had been gone, though, and Wendy, without the guidance of her mentor, had been unable to discover what issue was causing the extreme fatigue. She'd done a couple spells to relieve the fever and exhaustion, but she hadn't known how to fix anything. Today was Porlyusica's first day back home after her trip to retrieve rare herbs from across the country, though, so the couple were going to make sure to see her today.

"Gray and I just came by to say 'hi', but let me see Layla!" Juvia held out her arms towards Mira, who was currently holding the baby. "Oh, you've gotten so big since I saw you last! And you're smiling! Lucy, she's so precious! I can't wait until Gold is here! I have a feeling Gold is gonna be a little boy. We'll know for sure in just another two weeks! Oh, and we picked out our middle name, too! In just five months, we'll be welcoming Gold Nami Fullbuster into the world! I already have some of the decorations for the nursery bought!..." the rest of the girls listened and smiled as Juvia chattered ecstatically about the baby. They'd ended up theming the nursery, something Natsu and Lucy hadn't really done beyond the dragon plush and a lamp Lucy had found shaped like a castle. Juvia had a bunch of ocean-type decorations that she either wanted to buy or had already bought. Gray was also planning on, once they bought the crib, affixing seashells to it, of course making sure Gold wouldn't be in any sort of danger of choking or getting hurt on them. Juvia had already gone a tad overboard on buying stuffed animals for the unborn baby, having a whale, dolphin, shark, and four different types of fish already. A mobile had been bought as well, one featuring jellyfish of different colors. They'd also gotten the sheet for the baby's bed, a bright aqua color with clownfish and blue tangs used to pattern it. Juvia was sheepish as she admitted that she'd probably spent more money than she should've right now on nursery decor, but she was just so excited and eager!

Lucy and the girls had just laughed in reply to that. "Aw, Juvia, you're making me want to buy new stuff for Layla's room! I should get a bunch more fairy tale decorations!"

"Ooh, let me go shopping with you to pick stuff out!" Mira insisted, followed by Erza and the others agreeing.

"Hey Juvia!" Gray called as he walked over to the group. "We should get going now. Apparently Wendy's on a job, so it'll just be us and Porlyusica this time." Gray took her hand and helped her from her chair. "You ready?"

"Yes, I was just telling the girls about all the nursery stuff I found! Let's stop at the thrift store again after the appointment and find more!"

Gray rolled his eyes. "Perhaps, but I don't want you to overexert yourself. You may be feeling better now, but..."

"Yes Darling, I understand. Goodbye, girls!" Juvia waved as they headed out.

"Bye, guys!" Mira called back. "Let us know how Gold's doing!"

"We will!"

* * *

The doors to the guild slammed open.

It wasn't exactly an abnormality, but everyone in the guild could feel a sudden chill come in with the man who'd been responsible for the loud entry.

"Gray?" Lucy questioned, currently bouncing Layla in her arms but sensing something was off with her friend. "How'd..." Gray walked past her without acknowledging her. He walked quickly and with a purpose as he hung his head so his bangs covered his eyes, making it impossible to see them. When Natsu's attention had been dragged from his arm wrestle with Gajeel, though, the dragon slayer noticed the tightly clenched jaw and distinct smell of salt coming from his rival and friend. A shared look with Gajeel told him they had figured out the same thing. Gray was trying not to cry.

Natsu got up and reached a hand towards his ice-using rival's shoulder. "Gray, what-" Gray pushed past Natsu and ignored him, making it to the request board. Without even looking, he grabbed a random flyer and turned again, continuously ignoring his surroundings.

"I demand you speak, Gray," Erza insisted. When he didn't acknowledge even her, the alleged 'Monster', as he'd called her, no one, especially not Erza, knew how to react, and the man was gone before someone else could voice their concern.

Gray had been in the guild for less than a minute, but the hush that sat over the closest of his friends took much longer. They could tell; something was horribly wrong.

* * *

 **A/N: So... yeah... Don't murder me, please? And don't worry, I'm already working on the next chapter, part of which I had written back when I was stuck on I think the fifth or sixth chapter of the story, so I just have to do a little more and it'll be done.**

 **Thank you for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting!**


	18. Confrontation

**A/N: I don't want to throw off the ending by having an author's note, so everything is gonna be up here. Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following. I loved seeing the reviews from the last chapter! I think I got four of them, which if I'm not mistaken, is the most amount of reviews I've gotten on one chapter in Togetherness. I hope you like this chapter, because like I said, I started working on this one back in chapter four or five. It's been in the works and edited again and again, so I worked hard on this one.**

 **Again, thank you!**

* * *

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since Fairy Tail had seen Gray, at least the real Gray.

They'd seen him come into the guild two other times since the day of the appointment, but each time had been much the same. He came in, acknowledged nothing, grabbed the first job he saw, and left again.

They'd tried to talk to Juvia, but she wouldn't tell them anything, either. She was still speaking of course, making small talk and putting on a happy facade, but they could tell she was hurting, and badly. Every time they came to visit, they could easily tell she'd been crying, what with her red, puffy eyes and the salt that Natsu could smell strongly. They wanted to ask if she had seen Gray at all, but they could tell she hadn't. The couple had spent these last three weeks isolated from one another. Obviously, no one could tell what Gray wanted, but Juvia desperately wanted her husband back. Hanging over the Fullbuster house was a cloud of grief and depression.

Porlyusica was also silent, because "this is between Gray and Juvia", although they could sense just a tiny bit of sadness and even regret from the usually just angry woman. Wendy had found out, too. Porlyusica had actually told her, unsurprisingly. Wendy wouldn't tell the rest of them what the problem was, either, though, for the same reason as Porlyusica. The poor girl felt unbelievably guilty and distraught about the situation and had been spending a lot of time with Juvia. The rest of the guild didn't know what they got up to, but they seemed to be helping each other.

Everyone had the same suspicion, of course, as to what had caused all this grief, but no one dared speak it aloud. Everyone desperately wished that what they were all thinking was not true. It couldn't be true! No parents should have to suffer through pain like this!

Lucy and Natsu were particularly affected, as well. Every time the parents looked at their beautiful daughter, they inadvertently imagined what it had to feel like going through what Juvia and Gray most certainly were, and every time the thought ran through their heads, they had to desperately hug their precious baby as well as each other.

* * *

The guild hall grew a bit quieter as the front doors slammed open and then shut again. The chill came again and the guild knew who it was. Gray had come back for the third time since the appointment. Would this be the time he stopped ignoring everyone and everything?

Gray didn't look at anyone, answering everyone's internal question. He just silently and darkly walked to the request board like every other time and barely spared a glance to a flyer before grabbing it and heading back out the door.

Lucy couldn't help but be saddened even more as she watched it. Nobody could. Gray had been acting like this for the past three weeks. Distant, cold, and not the man they knew.

Natsu grit his teeth. "So we're just gonna let him keep being his stupid self?"

"Natsu..." Erza warned.

"Don't you 'Natsu' me! You know he's being an idiot!"

"Natsu, he's working through something," Lucy remarked as she adjusted Layla's bottle. They didn't know for sure what Gray was dealing with, even if they had a clear idea, but they would've been stupid to not recognize his behavior from other difficult times in his life.

"Yeah, and he's leaving Juvia alone in the meantime. She still didn't say anything last time, but you and I both know she's hurting!" Natsu shouted.

Levy sighed. "But there's nothing we can do."

"I can go knock some sense into his thick head!"

Erza shot him a glare. "No, you cannot. We need to let him alone to figure this out."

Natsu scoffed. "Fuck that. I'm done with that." And before anyone could stop him, he was out the door.

It didn't take long for his nose to track the ice mage down. "Gray." Natsu said, trying not to let his anger seep through. The addressee didn't respond and continued his brisk walk away.

" _Gray_." Natsu repeated, letting a little emotion through. When Gray still did nothing, Natsu decided he was done playing games and made sure that Gray knew of Natsu's rage. He yelled to the stubborn ice mage, "Gray, damn it, stop walking and _start talking_!"

Gray paused for the slightest moment, then continued walking again. Natsu moved forward and grabbed Gray's shoulder. "What the _hell_ happened, Gray!?" Gray tried to yank his shoulder loose from the dragon slayer's grip, and when Natsu responded by gripping even harder, Gray threw a punch backwards to his rival's face. Natsu caught his wrist.

The ice mage scoffed. "You guys just don't know how to let things alone, do you?" he said quietly, the first words he'd said to any of his guild mates in weeks.

Natsu was just about seething. "No, we don't! Because we're Fairy Tail and we don't let anyone in our family take on pain by themselves! So, what the hell _happened_!?"

" _Nothing_ happened!"

"Gray, you and I _both_ know that _something_ happened at that last check-up! You've always been an ass, but these last few weeks, you've been worse than usual! You've ignored all of us! You haven't even thrown any punches other than the one from a few moments ago! You've just been coming in, grabbing the first job you see, and leaving again!"

"Just leave me the fuck _alone_."

Natsu ignored him. "But that's not the worst thing you've done since this started! The _worst_ thing you've done is _abandon Juv_ -"

" _Shut_ the fuck _up_."

"Damn it, Gray! You shouldn't leave your family alone! I don't care what happened-"

"GOLD _DIED_ , GODDAMNIT! HAPPY NOW!?" Gray whipped around and punched his rival in the chest, needing something to hit. Natsu fought his instinct to punch back. He couldn't see Gray's eyes, but he could smell the bitter, salty tears about to stream down his cheeks. Gray lifted his fist to punch again, but then he let the clenched fist fall to his side. He released his fingers from their own trap and seemed calm for a moment, but that moment was gone in an instant. He turned to a nearby wall and sent his pent-up anger towards it in the form of a fist. Cracks formed on the wall, but neither boy could muster any care for the damage. Gray punched the wall again, and screamed out, "It's not _fair_!" He leaned his head against the wall as a feeling of defeat overpowered him. He pounded again, more lightly, as silent sobs racked his body. Through gritted teeth, he repeated in a small voice, " _It's just not fair_."

Natsu stood in silence. It was all he could do right now. He couldn't feel surprise at the news. It was the only logical reason they could think of to explain Gray's and Juvia's behavior, not to mention Wendy's and Porlyusica's.

"Why?" Gray finally asked no one in particular, half a shout and half a whisper. "Lucy's pregnancy went by without a hitch! Apparently the world could only have _one_ happy pregnant lady and _one_ happy baby at a time!"

Now Natsu was annoyed. He knew that Gray was frustrated, but that was no reason to basically blame Natsu's wife and child for his problem. "Lucy and Layla have nothing to do with this," he said, still trying to distill as much of his anger as possible.

Gray threw his fist into the wall again. "What was I thinking!? Of course it's not your girls' fault! I probably didn't take good enough care of her! Or fucking karma's decided to fucking show up and is punishing me for being a damned fool and pushing her away for the first several years we knew each other! I hurt her! I don't deserve her, a child, a family! All I do is hurt them! It's my fault! I'm to blam-"

Natsu whacked Gray in the back of the head. "Wake the hell up, Gray! It's not your fault! It's not anyone's damned fault! Stop being such a Goddamn... fucking... Idiot!" Gray turned around and tried to punch Natsu in the head, but Natsu caught his fist in his hand. "Look at me, Gray!" Gray hadn't even realized that he was looking down, but now that he knew it, he didn't want to look up. " _Look at me_!" Gray begrudgingly looked up to see his rival's furious face. He actually _cowered_ a little at the look. "You listen to me! I know it has to hurt, losing Gold like that! I can't even _imagine_ the pain you must be feeling! But did you even think about the pain that _Juvia's_ feeling!? She's lost her child _and_ her idiot fucking husband!"

"What the hell are you talking about!? I'm right here!"

"Yeah! Right here, trying to leave on another damn mission! You're _abandoning_ her!"

"I'm not abandoning her! I'm just...!"

"You're just leaving her to deal with the loss by herself! Did you ever fucking _think_ about her before you decided to skip town and run off on fucking missions!? Gray, she _misses_ you! She wants you home! We've been trying to help her how we can, but she wants her damn husband! She wants the goddamn love of her fucking life! A bunch of us are trying to help but we can't! None of us can really help her get through this! None of us have ever lost a child before even getting to meet them! You two need to help each other get past the grief!"

Gray was no longer angry, but his face was almost more tense as he finally broke out into the streams of tears. Natsu had never seen Gray cry so openly and it only made him feel even worse for his friend and even more thankful that Layla was perfectly healthy and that nothing had gone wrong. "I... I can't, Natsu! I'm just not strong enough! I can't!"

"Gray, what do you think I've been trying to tell you!? Of course you aren't strong enough! That's why you have to go back home and talk to Juvia!"

Gray squeezed his eyes shut, no longer able to look Natsu in the eyes before rubbing frustratingly at them, the tears continuously flooding them. "I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't waste your time apologizing to me! Go apologize to your wife! Deal with the heartache _together_!" Gray punched Natsu in the chest, this time in a more brotherly and thankful manner, and in the next second, he was darting in the direction of he and Juvia's house.


	19. Anxieties

**A/N: Sorry this took so long. I'll talk at the end.**

* * *

Gold Nami Fullbuster had died a week before the four month mark.

He'd had issues from conception. He'd been slowly dying since being given life. Even if Wendy and Porlyusica had been able to figure out what the problem was, there wouldn't have been anything they could do, but that didn't stop especially Wendy from feeling incredibly guilty, apologetic, and overall a mess. She had refused to do anything involving her healing magic because she'd lost trust in herself and her abilities. The guild hadn't known what to do or how to comfort her. Not even Carla had been able to get through to the young adult, but then they had seen Juvia pull her aside and talk to her. Nobody but those two knew what had transpired, but it had seemed to work, because Wendy was back to confidence within the day. If anything good came from this experience, it was that Juvia and Wendy had gotten incredibly close.

Gold had been literally sapping the life out of Juvia. It's why she had been essentially bedridden. The baby had been taking more of her magic than her body could handle. The week before the appointment, when Juvia had been feeling especially bad and fatigued, had been Gold's last attempts at clinging on to life through his rapid deterioration. That's when Juvia's body had decided that enough was enough and cut the baby off. It was why Juvia had suddenly felt great and was able to use her magic again. She could've died herself if her body hadn't stopped giving nutrients and magic to Gold.

It took a week, but Gray and Juvia did come back to the guild happy. Solemn, subdued, and still grieving, but happy. They'd talked about what they were going to do in reference to their family. They both still wanted a child so very badly, but they couldn't stand the thought of another miscarriage. They would definitely be waiting a while before trying to have children again. The room that had been meant as Gold's nursery hadn't been touched yet, either, in the whole month since they found out about the loss. The sheets, the toys, the mobile, everything... it simply sat in the room behind a closed door.

Lucy was overjoyed that the couple weren't bitter or indifferent to Layla. Lucy'd been so worried about how they would act around the baby and had psyched herself into believing they would shun her daughter. But the loss of Gold almost made Juvia and Gray love the grinning, pink-haired, little baby even more. It seemed to Lucy that they were filling a void.

It also appeared for right now that Layla was going to be the sole baby in the guild, since Gray and Juvia as well as Gajeel and Levy were both waiting now to have children and no one else from their little group had settled into a marriage. The youngest besides her was Zachary, Alzack and Bisca's second child who was already three. Despite having no kids to grow up with, though, Layla certainly seemed like she was the most-loved baby in all of Earthland. The guild members of their group all conceded that they refused to let her live her childhood in pain and without parents. She was going to have her parents as well as her bunches of aunts and uncles. Layla would never be an orphan, lost and without a place in the world.

Natsu collapsed on the bed next to Lucy, who was reading a book, after getting Layla down for the night. It was the day of his confrontation of Gray. He scratched his neck, still not quite used to his scarf missing, but it was currently swaddled around Layla. It made for a perfect swaddle for the tiny baby, and the fire dragon scales it was made from guaranteed its warmth. But he wasn't thinking about that right now. He had something else on his mind. Lucy was quick to realize something was off with her husband when he didn't start pestering and cuddling her.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked in a concerned tone. "What are you thinking about?" She put her book down on the nightstand as she looked to her husband, who was currently on the bed face down, his arms folded behind his head and his legs sprawled out.

Natsu groaned, then turned so he was sprawled face up. "I just..." He sighed. "I just can't stop thinking about if we were like Gray and Juvia."

"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "That's tough to think about."

"What if we had miscarried Layla? What if Layla had been sick like Gold the whole time and she ended up killing you? What if you'd died!?" Natsu was obviously distressed.

"Natsu, you can't worry about the what-ifs. It's not like you." Lucy cuddled into his side as a way to show him that she was here and she was alive.

"I know, it's just..." Natsu sighed again. "You didn't see Gray. He was... He was broken, Luce. That's the only way I can describe it. He's strong, but this just tore him up. I've never seen him like he was."

"Yeah, it has to be tough. That's why I don't even want to think about the what-if of us losing Layla. I love her too much to imagine it." Lucy pressed a kiss to his jaw.

"Lucy, I was mad at Gray for leaving his family like that, but I... How would I have reacted? I couldn't handle it when... when Igneel died, and I ran off for an entire year and left you behind. But if our daughter had died..." Natsu gulped. "I just don't know how I would've handled it, Luce."

Lucy sighed thoughtfully. "I don't know either. I don't how you would've reacted and I don't know how I would've reacted. You might have tried to just run from it all like Gray or like with Igneel. Hopefully we won't ever have to find out. But you were there to help Gray and I'm sure Gray would be there to help you."

Natsu gave a small smile. "Yeah. We're there to knock some sense into each other." He turned towards Lucy and gave her a kiss. "I love you, Lucy. And I'm gonna make sure I never have to run away." He kissed her again and then again. Lucy could tell he was still frantic. "I love you so damn much. I just can't stand the thought of you getting hurt. Or Layla." Lucy swore she heard Natsu growl. "I'm not letting anyone hurt my family. If anyone lays a finger on either of you, I swear..."

Lucy rubbed a hand soothingly along the side of Natsu's face. "Natsu, I know. You've said all this before. A thousand times before."

"It's just..." Lucy waited patiently as Natsu struggled to find the words he needed to say. "It's different now. I just never really realized-" Natsu sighed again, still having trouble organizing his new thoughts and anxieties. "I can punch a bad guy, Luce. If someone threatens to hurt you, I can just fire dragon iron fist them in the face. But I can't punch a disease. I can't burn a medical problem to ashes. There's just so many ways you guys could get hurt that I wouldn't be able to do anything about!"

Lucy kissed him. "Listen, Natsu. I'm not hurt. Layla's not hurt. If a medical issue comes up, then we'll deal with it. You can't worry about that stuff, Natsu, or you'll miss out on the important things. You'll miss out on Layla laughing for the first time and getting her first tooth and saying her first word and growing up. And you'll miss out on me," Lucy pressed her lips against his again. "Kissing you and loving you and being here for you. You don't think I worry about you? You went on jobs for months without me while I was pregnant with Layla and I worried about you not coming back home every time you left. But you're here and I'm here and we're here together. So please don't let this worry cloud over everything else."

"Yeah," Natsu nodded as he kissed her again. "I just love you so much."

"Yeah," Lucy replied, eagerly returning his kiss. "I know you do."

* * *

 **A/N: I might not be uploading for a while. I talked a bit on tumblr about some of the shit going on right now, if you're curious, but I don't really wanna repeat myself. Same name on tumblr, btw. I don't post fanfiction there, but I have art and fandom stuff.**

 **Anyways, this isn't a plug. I'm just letting you guys know that I'm not exactly in the mood to write.**

 **When I do though, then don't worry :) These past few chapters have been sad, but I'm gonna make sure this next one is happy.**

 **See you eventually.**


	20. Laughter

**A/N: Heyyo, back with another chapter!**

* * *

Layla was three and a half months old. Father's Day had passed with extra jubilance from Natsu and Lucy, having been the day Natsu found out about Layla, although they knew the holiday had to be hurting Gray pretty hard. Gray and Juvia were still at home grieving at this point.

Right now, Natsu was at the guild with Layla while Lucy was out on a quick, fun job with Levy just across town. The two girls' husbands were currently in the middle of an arm wrestle.

"YOU'RE CHEATIN'" Gajeel accused the fire dragon slayer after he heated his hand for the fourth round since they'd started.

"I AM NOT! How could I be cheating!? I'm the one at a disadvantage, 'cuz I'm holding Layla!" Even though he was shouting, Natsu grinned down at the baby, who was currently chewing on Natsu's finger and getting her drool all over her father's hand. She started teething just yesterday, and much preferred biting into fingers than any of her teething rings, to Lucy's dismay. Natsu, admittedly, kind of liked it. She was his little baby dragon. Of course, maybe once one of her teeth actually came in, he might not find it so cute.

"You so are cheating! You're using your magic to make me let go!" Natsu just scoffed at the continuous accusations.

"Aw, your daddy would never cheat, would he?" Natsu tickled Layla with the fingers she wasn't currently biting, making her squirm and grin.

"Except he is," Gajeel grumbled to himself, recognizing that Natsu obviously wasn't listening anymore. He couldn't help but smile, though, too (internally, of course). Gajeel may not have been ready to have kids yet, but that didn't stop him from being eager. Watching Layla just made him moreso. Layla really was an adorable child, not that he'd ever admit it out loud to anyone. Okay, to anyone other than Levy. Somehow, she always got him to tell her everything. She really had a way with him.

"Alright, another round!" Natsu challenged. "And I won't use magic, okay?"

Gajeel rolled his eyes, but put his elbow up on the table for another arm wrestle. Natsu grinned and grabbed his hand. "3, 2, 1, GO!" he announced quickly, trying to surprise Gajeel and gain the upper hand. It might've worked if he hadn't been doing it for the last several rounds already.

The boys tried pushing against the other's arm and force it down on the table, only succeeding in creating a standstill. "Urgh..." Natsu grunted, trying not to give into the temptation to use his fire to his advantage. He would beat Gajeel with his own strength, no magic!

Except Gajeel had a different idea. "Gi-hi..." he laughed before turning his arm to iron suddenly and overpowering Natsu.

"Goddamit, Gajeel!"

"Gi hi, you said you wouldn't use magic, but I said nothing of the sort."

"WHY I OUGHTA-" Natsu shouted, standing up, knocking his chair over, and lighting his unoccupied fist with fire.

Layla looked at the fire only inches from her. Reaching a hand towards it while her father was distracted, Layla was elated as she felt the warmth. She retracted her hand back towards her to find her own fist now lit with the magical dragon fire. Waving her hand around, Layla screeched and giggled.

Natsu paused his insult war with Gajeel when the sound reached his ears. When Gajeel wouldn't shut up, Natsu punched him in the mouth. "Layla just laughed! Layla's laughing! Oh my God, Layla, that's the most adorable sound I've ever heard!" Natsu held Layla in front of him to look at her as she laughed at her fiery fist. "Did you steal some of Daddy's fire? Aww, you really do like playing with fire, don't you? You're my little fire dragon!" Layla just gave a small toothless smile at her father and reached her hand towards him again. Natsu laughed himself and adjusted her in his arm so he could light one of his fingers on fire and hold it next to her tiny fist. "Gajeel, she laughed!" was his response to Gajeel's glare. Gajeel just rolled his eyes and tried not to to react to the grin on the little baby's face. "C'mon, Layla, we're gonna go find Mommy!" Natsu announced before darting out of the guild towards the library that Levy and Lucy were going through magical books at.

Natsu ran through Magnolia, several times going down the wrong path despite the fact that he was following Lucy's scent, and then having to make a detour back home for a diaper change since he'd forgotten the diaper bag at the guild, but he finally ended up at the library.

Barging in and making a ruckus, Natsu ignored the several shushes he got from the patrons and continued to follow his nose into a back room, where Lucy was stacking some books into separate piles. Levy was apparently off doing something else in the library, because Lucy was alone back there.

"Lucy, Lucy!" he shouted, receiving a surprised look from Lucy.

"What are you doing here!?" Lucy yelled at him in a hushed tone.

"Layla laughed just a bit ago!"

A grin formed on Lucy's previously grimacing face. "She laug-" the librarian peeked in the room and shot a glare at them, praying to God that they would just shut up already. Lucy gestured an apology before continuing again, this time quieter. "She laughed!? What made her laugh!?" Lucy asked, taking Layla and tickling her to try and get a giggle.

"I'd been fighting Gajeel and then she-"

"Wait, you were holding her while fighting Gajeel!?"

"Well, I wasn't really fighting him, just shouting insults. But she was just playing with some of my fire-"

"YOU LET HER GET AHOLD OF YOUR FIRE, NATSU!?" Lucy immediately grabbed Layla's hands and inspected them, looking for burn marks, blisters, reddening, any evidence that her precious baby had been hurt.

"Uh... It was an accident?" Natsu offered, suddenly a bit afraid for his life against Mama Bear Lucy.

"She's not hurt," Lucy finally announced, shocked. "Her little hands aren't even red!" Lucy held Layla in front of her with a proud grin, her expression and mood taking a complete 180. "Are you my tiny dragon slayer? Are you gonna use fire and fight all the bad guys, just like your daddy?" Lucy gave the girl some eskimo kisses, earning a laugh from Layla as she grabbed her mother's face with the same hands that had held fire.

"See, she was fine!" Natsu said, also with a grin. Lucy shot him a glare that said "that's beside the point" before continuing to play with Layla.

"Natsu, I can't believe she's laughing! It's so adorable! I don't think I've ever heard another laugh more beautiful!"

"She really is our little dragon, isn't she? She even inherited my magic," he said with a grin. Lucy gave him a sweet smile and kissed him just as Layla gave a big yawn. "Aww, it's nap time, isn't it?" The mother gave her daughter a kiss before handing Layla back to Natsu. "Take her home and put her down for a nap. We're almost done here and I'll meet you back home, okay?" She gave them each another kiss before waving to Layla. "Bye-bye, Sweetie! Mama will see you later, okay?" Layla lazily reached a hand out and copied her mother's waving motion. "OH MY GOD SHE JUST WAVED! Natsu, did you see that!? She waved!?"

"Yeah, I saw! Aww, you're my growing girl! My beautiful, smart, growing girl!" Lucy and Natsu each waved at her again, laughing in glee when she waved back.

"Okay, now you've really gotta take her home for a nap, Honey. Bye!" she said with another kiss to Natsu's cheek. "AND DON'T LET HER PLAY WITH FIRE AGAIN! I DON'T CARE IF SHE SEEMS TO HAVE INHERITED YOUR ABILITIES, I REFUSE TO HAVE MY 3-MONTH OLD ACCIDENTALLY BURN MAGNOLIA DOWN."

Natsu cowered, although he was still grinning. "Yeah, yeah. Love you, Lucy!"

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for reviewing, favoriting, and following! It's greatly appreciated!**


	21. Ready?

**A/N: Hello again! It took a while for me to figure out what I was gonna write for this chapter, but I think this works!**

* * *

"Have fun, guys!" Levy called to Natsu and Lucy as they left, just having dropped Layla off at Gajeel and Levy's house. Layla tried reaching for them while also waving, apparently conflicted.

The parents were getting some long-desired alone time while their friends babysat the four-month-old, they would be "on a job", although Levy and Gajeel were smart enough to figure out that there was no mission; Natsu and Lucy were just gonna be sexing it up all day.

Layla would of course miss her parents, but she'd really grown to love both Gajeel and Levy and the couple would be able to take care of her for the day just fine. Layla had easily taken to most of her Fairy Tail family.

Levy smiled down to the baby girl as she closed the door. "You're gonna have a lot of fun with Aunt Levy and Uncle Gajeel, aren't you?" she said, earning a smile from the baby. "Gajeel, can you take the diaper bag?" Levy asked her husband, handing him the bag and then grabbing some toys from it. "Alright, your mommy said we need to make sure you have tummy time. Let's do a bit of that now, okay Layla?"

Gajeel set the bag down and took the baby as his wife laid out a blanket. "Ack! Shrimp, she's pulling my hair!" he yelped through clenched teeth. Levy suppressed a laugh as she helped him pry the tiny fingers from his dark tangles. Gajeel gave a grumpy glare to Layla, who was still attempting to reach for his hair even as Levy took her away from Gajeel for 'tummy time'. Layla just giggled at him.

"Ooh, which toy do you wanna play with, Layla?" Levy asked, setting the toys up in front of Layla. Layla immediately tried to reach for both her star-shaped teething toy and the dragon plush. Layla wiggled for a bit before laying her head down, lacking the strength to hold it up for too long. "Bonk!" Levy joked, helping the baby. Gajeel couldn't hide his smile anymore as he watched his beloved interact with some of their best friends' child.

"Do you want Uncle Gajeel to come play, too?" Levy asked the baby, who was currently nomming on the star. Gajeel just grunted in response. "I see that smile, Honey," Levy teased, turning around to stick her tongue out at him. "You don't have to act grumpy all the time. It's okay to admit how much you're starting to adore Layla."

"Oh yeah, because Natsu would totally be able to let me live it down," he told her sarcastically.

Levy rolled her eyes. "He doesn't have to. He'd appreciate that you aren't being a grump, even if he wouldn't say it out loud. Just like you're refusing to say out loud that you actually feel some affection towards Layla."

"Yeah, yeah..." Gajeel kneeled down next to Levy and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, letting Levy lay her head on his arm once he'd moved back.

They played with Layla like that for a good while, Levy eventually helping Layla turn over onto her back so that she wouldn't end up spitting up from too much time on her belly. It wasn't until she'd started crying a bit afterwards that Levy and Gajeel had a problem.

"Shh... Shh... You're okay..." Levy consoled the baby. "It doesn't seem to be her diaper," she noted, taking a peek while rocking Layla in her arms.

"I coulda told you that," Gajeel stressfully chuckled. "The nose would know."

"She might be hungry, then..." Levy suddenly gasped and started viciously digging through the diaper bag. "Gajeel, we never put the milk in the fridge! Do you think it'll still be any good!?" She kept searching the almost overwhelmingly huge and full bag for the milk, only to find that it wasn't in there. "Gajeel, the milk's not here."

"What?"

"There's no milk in the diaper bag. Natsu and Lucy forgot to pack it."

Meanwhile, back at Natsu and Lucy's house, Lucy herself was realizing what she might've forgotten.

"Natsu, I don't think we packed the milk..." she commented before letting out a high-pitched moan.

"Hmm?" Natsu bleerily questioned, too deep in their fiery haze to fully realize what she'd said.

"I said- NnnnaaaAAHHHH" Natsu had given a sensuous bite to her overly-sensitive thighs and Lucy's previous concern was whisked out of her thoughts.

Levy frantically bounced Layla in her arms while Gajeel double-checked the fridge and the diaper bag for the milk, to find that it did not, in fact, get brought to the Redfox household.

"Gajeel, we can't babysit Layla if we can't feed her. You need to stay here with her." After he gave a complaint of indignance, Levy snapped, "Would you rather go to their house to get the milk!?" Gajeel grumbled, not wanting to go within twenty feet of Natsu and Lucy's house and see, smell, or hear what exactly they were up to. "Then stay with Layla and see if you can calm her down a bit while I'm gone!" And with that, Gajeel was left with a crying baby in his arms as his wife closed the front door behind her.

"Fuck."

Gajeel started bouncing Layla in his arms like he'd seen Levy do earlier when trying to keep the baby calm. "Fucking hell, I don't know how to take care of a baby!"

He flopped onto the couch, holding Layla to his chest. "Uh... Shhh? Shh... You'll get your milk soon, it's okay?" Gajeel groaned. He felt kinda silly saying stuff like that, but he knew he shouldn't. I mean, the idiot Flame Brain did it with no problem. Anything Natsu could do, he could do just fine. He'd have to do it for his own kid someday, anyways...

"Just wait a bit longer, Layla..." he patted her back and after a couple minutes of crying, Layla slowly started to calm down finally. She was still crying and screaming, but perhaps a bit less incessantly. He started trying to bounce her in his lap, and after that good, _long_ cry, Layla gave a yawn and drifted off to sleep on his shoulder.

"Is that all it was?" Gajeel complained, quietly and wearily. "You just wanted to sleep?" Gajeel sighed and continued patting Layla's back so that she would (hopefully) stay asleep. And in a silent house and nothing to do beyond sit there with the baby, it wasn't long before Gajeel himself was drifting off, making sure Layla wouldn't fall off of him.

After a good thirty-five minutes, Levy was finally back at home.

Her face was still painted red after the... experience.

She'd been intervally knocking at Natsu and Lucy's door for over five minutes, unheard by the otherwise occupied couple. Knowing her husband had to be having difficulties with the baby by himself, Levy had sighed and braced herself, finding the spare key in the mailbox and coming in.

Luckily, it seemed like Natsu and Lucy were in their bedroom, so Levy didn't have to see anything. Unluckily, the two were loud as FUCK, especially when it came to that act, so Levy had heard plenty.

Not that she and the rest of the guild hadn't already heard far too much from Natsu and Lucy. There had been more than one coupling that had taken place in the guild hall while they thought they were being secretive, but the two were anything but.

Then she'd had to search for what seemed like forever for Layla's milk, made more unpleasant by the background noises.

When Levy'd finally found it in a cooler on the table (apparently ready to be taken to her house and just forgotten in the haste), Levy had gotten her ass out of there as quickly as possible.

"Gajeel, I've got the milk now," she called out wearily. And then she realized that Layla wasn't crying anymore.

Levy turned around from kicking her shoes off and saw Gajeel's head lolled on the back of the couch. Approaching closer, she could see the tiny baby also sleeping, propped up on his shoulder, clutched in one of his arms.

Her heart melted at the scene, and imagining that the baby had black hair instead of Layla and Natsu's bright pink brought sweet tears to her eyes. Her mouth was spread in a grin.

Levy gently woke Gajeel up and then carefully took Layla from his arms, making absolute sure that the baby wouldn't wake up.

 _Maybe... Maybe I am ready for kids..._ Levy thought as she set the baby down in the playpen that Natsu had set up in she and Gajeel's bedroom earlier.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following!**


	22. Changes

**A/N: I don't even know about this chapter. Just take it.**

* * *

Lucy loved taking Layla out into town with her to do errands. While it was a bit of a nuisance to cart a baby around and take care of her while also trying to do grocery shopping, every single compliment Layla received made it all worth it.

She swore, babies were magnets for little old ladies that couldn't stop gushing about how adorable they were. Natsu loved it too, because whenever he was out with them, everyone just had to comment on how much Layla looked like her father, and Natsu would wear that grin proudly like a badge of honor the rest of the day.

Every once in a while, there'd be some moron who'd ask "How old is _he_?" even when Layla had a little yellow dress covered with bows as well as tiny pigtails in her hair, but beyond Lucy's initial annoyance, that was okay, too, because it just meant she had an excuse to buy even more adorable, girly clothes for Layla.

Which was exactly what Lucy (plus Natsu) was doing today.

Natsu had insisted on coming, opting for them all to go do errands together rather than one of them stay home and babysit. He'd groaned as he saw Lucy hesitate at the clothing section in Magnolia's department store before taking them in to look at more baby clothes, but knew better than to argue with a mom on a mission. It's not like Layla couldn't use more clothes, anyways.

"Natsu, look!" Lucy called over to him from a rack across the way. _When'd she go over there?_ Natsu shrugged and just listened to her beckon. "Look at this adorable dress! She's wearing this the next time we go out!" Natsu chuckled at her excitement as she fawned over the blue ruffly dress that even featured a cat's head on its front, holding it in front of Layla (who was currently sitting in her stroller, chewing on her teething star) to get a preview of just how cute the baby would look. "Happy's gonna like this one!"

"Y'know, Luce," Natsu started as he looked over her shoulder. "It's been a while since I've seen you buy cute clothes for yourself."

Lucy thought back and realized that the last clothes she'd bought for herself were maternity clothes. "Huh. I guess it has. But as long as I get to dress up my sweet little baby girl..." Lucy trailed off into baby-talk-babbles as she started tickling Layla.

"Lucy, you're so..." Natsu struggled to find the words as he ran his hands through her hair. "Gah, I love you."

"Mm, love you too, Honey," Lucy replied, grinning up at him.

"Is that a stroller I see?" They heard an older woman who had to be the age of at least 60 say from a few racks away before she was right next to them to start fawning over Layla. "Oh, let me see the darling!" she kindly asked of the couple. Of course, Lucy and Natsu grinned, the latter picking up Layla to hold for the woman to see. "She looks just like her father!" she exclaimed, just as many had done before, and brought wider smiles to the parents' faces. "You two are in that wizard guild, Fairy Tail, aren't you! Yes, I've seen you in the news and such before! I had no idea you two were together, but that's so sweet!..." the old woman rambled on.

 **oOo**

Later that night, Natsu was climbing into bed after his wife, quick to cuddle against her.

"Hey Luce, are you sure about the clothing thing?" Natsu asked her as he rolled her on top of him. Lucy hummed in confusion. "I mean, I know how much you love shopping and buying new clothes. It just kinda seems weird that you'd just stop caring since we had Layla... If you're trying to hold back because of money, then don't. We have plenty-"

Lucy laughed. "You're always so concerned. When did you become so intuitive?"

"When I had to start thinking about you, how you felt, and how what I do affects you," he shrugged. He'd been asked that question by a lot of his fellow guild members after they'd noticed his change when he and Lucy had finally gotten together, so Natsu had figured out that answer long ago.

The celestial wizard smiled at him before pecking his nose. "I love you, too, Natsu. But seriously, I'm fine. I've still been out 'shopping' with everyone. I've still browsed. It's not that I've stopped caring about having cute clothes, it's just... Less of a concern. I'm still gonna buy new clothes every once in a while. I mean, the girls and I have been planning on doing a huge shopping spree since I started fitting into regular clothes again, but I just don't worry about it as much. Does that make sense?"

"I guess..."

"Things change in a lot of ways after having kids, Natsu, whether we plan on them changing or not. I certainly didn't think I would start caring about my closet less, but I'm sure you didn't plan to care less about fighting, did you?" Lucy asked, laying against his chest and twirling his hair between her fingers.

"Wait- What!?"

Natsu looked at her like her head had been replaced with a pumpkin and she giggled again. "You mean you haven't noticed it? You've caused a hell of a lot less brawls in the guild than before we had Layla. You've still fought people here and there, but it hasn't been near as common. I've heard people comment on it. Erza seems to be very grateful. In fact, she thanked me for getting pregnant and making you destroy the guild hall less."

The dragon slayer burst out laughing at that. "Really!? Geez, I hadn't noticed that! You'd think I would've!" Lucy just hummed in response before kissing his cheek. "This is weird," Natsu commented. "Now that you've said something... Like, I still _want_ to fight Laxus and Gildarts and everyone, but I don't feel like I absolutely _need_ to, either."

Lucy smiled. "We're growing up so that we can help our little girl do the same."

Natsu kissed the top of her head, and Lucy could feel his grin through the peck. "Yeah, I guess we are."

"Now let go of me, you heater. Seriously, it's fucking hot in here and your arm wrapped around me isn't helping," Lucy teased.

* * *

 **A/N: Just take it. I don't know**

 **I have the next chapter basically done, so it should be going up sometime next week unless something gets in the way.**

 **Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, messages, and follows!**


	23. Ready

**A/N: Hey, guys! I've a bit to talk about in the note down below, but I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Levy shook with nervousness in her bathroom as she took out an item she'd bought in secret yesterday.

She had missed her period this month.

It should've started a week ago, and it never came.

And she hadn't been feeling great, either.

She'd woken up these last couple of days vomiting.

She and Gajeel had talked about this before and both decided they should wait!

But all signs pointed to…!

Levy gulped. There was no point in worrying yet. She had to take the test before she started panicking.

And as soon as she got her results, she was.

Levy sat on her bathroom floor, quivering, as she stared at the object, prominently featuring two bright red lines that burned into her vision as if making sure she knew she couldn't escape.

She wanted to be a mom and Gajeel wanted to be a dad, but they'd said "Not yet"!

She had started thinking recently that maybe she was ready, but she hadn't talked to Gajeel about it yet! How was he going to react!?

They'd been using contraceptives, even! What were the odds that she'd actually gotten pregnant!?

Of course, Levy knew the odds already, but that didn't make this any better.

Levy took several deep breaths to calm herself. She knew Gajeel wouldn't react super badly to this. As she'd already noted, he did want to be a father. This would just be happening a bit earlier than they'd planned.

It would be fine, just maybe not ideal. Besides deciding that they wanted more time to themselves before starting a family, they didn't exactly have the most money in the world, although they did have a decent amount. Gajeel would just have to go on a bunch of extra jobs while she was pregnant.

 _Gajeel…_ How was she going to tell him? Should she give him a card or a present, like Lucy'd done? Should she just tell him outright? Should she wait a bit and see if he asks?

She heard the front door slam shut as her husband came in the house. "Hey, Shrimp! I bought some medicine for that flu of yours!"

Levy sighed, wobbily standing up from the bathroom floor. "I uh… I don't have a flu…" she called to him as she left the bathroom.

"Then what've you been throwing up for?" he asked, finding her in the hallway. Levy looked up to him with wide, slightly tearful eyes before looking down at the floor and biting her lip. "Levy, what's the matter?" Gajeel wondered with concern taking over his expression and voice as he kneeled down in front of her. "Levy, tell me what's wrong," he demanded, lacing his fingers in hers.

"I-" Levy coughed. "I'm…" she took her hands from his and put them on her abdomen, unable to find her voice and hoping Gajeel would get the message.

"Levy," he warned, not understanding the hint and demanding to know what had his wife in turmoil.

"I…" Levy gulped again. " _I'm pregnant…"_ she whispered out, barely loud enough for even Gajeel's dragon senses to hear her.

But he had heard her. And he dropped fully onto his butt on the floor as his eyes grew wide. His mouth was agape, but no sound came from it.

"But… how? You've been on birth control for years," he asked, fully stunned.

"My birth control is only like 98% effective. I've told you that."

Gajeel just continued sitting there, eyes wide open and jaw slacked in shock.

"Gajeel, please say something," Levy urged, kneeling down and taking his hands again.

The dragon slayer kissed his wife's forehead. "Don't get me wrong, Levy, I'm happy about this, it's just… It's a surprise, is all."

Levy sighed. "Let's just forget about this for now. Take all the time you need to process it. I'm still trying to do that myself." She offered a small smile.

 **oOo**

Later, in the middle of the night, Gajeel was having trouble sleeping; he was tossing and turning in his bed.

Their day had been entirely too awkward. They hadn't talked about their pregnancy, but the tension had permeated the air around them. It got to be so much that Levy had gone to bed early to escape it.

Levy and he would get past this, he knew. They had a strong relationship, built on (dare he say) an iron foundation. They loved each other and they would love this new addition to their family. It was more a matter of how long it took for them to process the whole thing.

It's not that he wasn't glad to be having a kid. He was.

But _was he ready?_

This was a human being they were talking about! Could he bear that sort of responsibility? Could he trust himself to keep this baby safe, to protect it from harm, to _be a good father?_

He wasn't sure.

He knew Levy would be a fantastic mother. She was probably debating that with herself in her waking moments, but he knew she would be.

Gajeel closed his eyes again to try and go back to sleep, but found himself bogged with memories of his own father - that old ass Metalicana.

 _"You're an idiot. A stubborn, buttheaded, stupid-as-hell idiot," the dragon grumbled as he watched the tiny Gajeel rest after trying to do too much with his magic, despite several warnings from his teacher and honorary father. Gajeel had just pouted, looking down at the ground as he mumbled something incoherent. Metalicana laughed, the sound rumbling into the ground underneath Gajeel as the dragon laid his head in front of the pouting child. "But I love you anyways."_

 _Gajeel tried hiding the smile that wanted to creep on his lips, widely unsuccessful if his dad's second laugh was anything to go by. They had an unspoken love and affection for each other, so it was always strange (and yet appreciated) when it became verbal. "I don't think I tell you that as much as I should, Gajeel," the dragon grumbled again, his smile faltering, "But I do, ya big butthead."_

 _This time it was Gajeel's turn to laugh, punching Metalicana lightly on the snout. "Yeah, if anyone's a big butthead, it's you!"_

 _Metalicana gave an appreciative chuckle. "Now get your ass up again! If you're gonna insist on trying too hard, then I'm gonna insist on working you harder!"_

Gajeel couldn't help but smile. As much as he liked to deny it, he really had loved his father and missed him dearly. Metalicana hadn't been the perfect dad or the perfect role model, but really, who was? But he'd tried, and that had been enough for Gajeel. He'd been angry and upset when the dragon had disappeared and became a bitter piece of shit because of it, but it was only because of how much Gajeel'd loved him and how abandoned and hurt he'd felt when Metalicana disappeared.

He opened his eyes and turned to look at his wife. She was breathing steadily, and he watched her chest rise and fall with every one. He dared to look lower; to look at her abdomen, where she and him had a baby growing.

And everything just hit him all at once.

That's where his child was. _His_ child. He and _Levy's_ child. He and his _beautiful, amazing, wonderful wife's_ child.

He was gonna be a father. She was gonna be a mother.

They were going to be _parents._

His lips curled upwards into a smile as he felt a tear slide down his cheek. He was crying? _What the hell!?_

But the tears only fell faster while his smile refused to falter.

He wrapped his arms around his wife, making sure to place his hands on her abdomen, and pulled her tightly against him, resting his head against the top of hers so he could take in the scent of her hair. Their baby was gonna have part of that scent!

Levy stirred in his arms, giving a groan of his name as her eyes slowly flickered open. He hadn't planned on her waking up. He felt so vulnerable and raw right now! He always felt so weak when she saw him like this, but she always assured him that he was still as strong as ever, if not moreso for actually opening up about his feelings. That was something he still had trouble with.

"Mm… Gajeel?" Levy heard him sniff and cough. "Honey, what's the matter?" she demanded from him, almost fearing the worst.

"I just…" Gajeel turned them so that he was on top of her and kissing her fiercely. She could feel both the grin and the tears in the kiss, which brought about her own in turn. "Levy," he whispered. "I don't know how great of a father I'll be, but…" Gajeel remembered his father's deep rumblings of laughter from his childhood again. "I'll try. I'll really try."

Levy laughed, wiping her eyes. "You'll be amazing, Gajeel."

 _I'm never gonna leave this baby behind. I'm always gonna be there. I'll at least do that right, you asshole._ Gajeel gave a distant laugh and looked up to the ceiling with an affectionate smile. _Yeah, I'll get at least that right, Dad_.

Levy held his cheek and brought his gaze back down to her before kissing him again. "I love you, Gajeel."

"I love you too, Shrimp."

* * *

 **A/N: Guys, I've been thinking. Should I just go ahead and start posting Lucid, despite my not even close to completing it? I said I was going to finish it before I started posting it, but that was because I didn't think I could trust myself. But with this story... I've been inconsistent with my updates, yeah, and they aren't as frequent as they could be, but I haven't abandoned it. So should I just go ahead and post Lucid and stop worrying so much?**

 **If I do start posting, I would appreciate a beta, just to read through the chapter before I post it to make sure it makes sense and make sure I don't accidentally jump the gun on some plot points, so if any of you are interested, please PM me.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Togetherness! Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following!**


	24. Reveal and Reunion

**A/N: I am so sorry for how long this took. But I think you guys have gotten used to having to wait anywhere from two weeks to a month and a half for chapters, so oh well.**

* * *

Natsu smiled at his daughter, who was currently being fawned over by Levy and Mirajane, with Natsu and his wife watching closeby. Layla gave a giggle and reached for her father before accidentally wiggling from Mirajane's grasp on her. The sixth-month-old fell against the table she'd been sitting on with Mira's help before Levy laughed and helped the baby up again.

The fire dragon slayer noticed an odd scent coming off of Levy as he watched the woman play with Layla. It was different. It had changed. It was really similar to Gajeel's, in the same way Lucy's had become similar to his own not too long after they'd found out about the pregnancy. His eyes widened as he realized what the weird scent was.

"Hey Gajeel," Natsu snickered and looked to the fellow dragon slayer. "Your wife's scent has changed," he continued with a smirk.

Gajeel gulped and gave Natsu wide eyes from over the mug he'd just been drinking out of. It had been almost three weeks since Levy had told him about their pregnancy and they just hadn't known how to tell the guild yet. They didn't know how to say that they were pregnant after insisting to so many that they weren't ready for children yet.

"Natsu, what are you talking about?" Lucy asked, overhearing the dragon slayers' conversation.

The pink-haired husband laughed. "You remember, several months ago, right after we found out about the pregnancy? I told you your scent had changed to be even more like mine?"

"Yeah…?" Lucy hesitantly confirmed as her eyes narrowed in confusion. "What are you getting at?"

Natsu gave a pointed glance between Gajeel and his wife's stomach until Lucy's eyes widened and her hand came up to cover her mouth in surprise. "You're not- you're serious!?" At the red face Gajeel had from Lucy's realization and Levy's flustered and frantic hand waving now that she'd started listening in, Lucy could easily figure out the validity of Natsu's hypothesis.

Lucy looked to Levy with stars in her eyes and grabbed her friends hands excitedly. "You're pregnant!?"

And with that shout came even more shouts of excitement.

"Thanks for letting her tell everyone, Fire Breath!" Gajeel yelled indignantly.

Guild members swarmed the two in a similar manner to every one of the other pregnancy announcements, questions being tossed around and both members of the couple trapped and forced to give answers.

"What happened to 'not being ready'!?" Lucy demanded, with a wide smile still stretching across her face.

"Well, we didn't exactly plan for this to happen!" Levy answered with a red face. "It just did!"

"Ooh, so it was an accident!" Cana suggested with a wink. "Got a little too wild, eh?" Gajeel and Levy's faces both got redder as they spluttered some answers.

And it only escalated from there. Lucy sheepishly apologized for not being more tactful in her exclamation, but it did die down some eventually.

Levy gave a sigh and let her head loll against the bar top, exhausted by the excitement of her fellow guild members. She was ready to just go home and go to sleep. Just as she was about to get up and whine to Gajeel that she was ready to leave, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking up, it was Juvia, wearing an unreadable expression.

"Juvia, I..." Levy had never even thought about that! How did Juvia and Gray have to be feeling right now!? It had only been a few months since Gold's passing!

"Congratulations!" the water mage finally said with a smile. "I wish you the best."

"I... Thank you," Levy responded with her own smile.

"Don't feel sorry for me," Juvia told her. "What happened to our family shouldn't affect whether or not you have yours." Levy wrapped her arms around the other woman in a tight hug. "I'm happy for you," Juvia continued. "And I'm sure your little boy or girl will be a beautiful bundle of joy."

Levy leaned back from the hug and gave Juvia another smile, tears in her eyes. "Thank you," she said again.

 **oOo**

Erza sighed as she walked home, distressed and slightly depressed, but hiding it apparently well, as no one had commented on her behavior while at Fairy Tail.

The day at the guild hall had been eventful, what with it coming out that Levy was pregnant.

Erza was joyful for the couple, of course, but yet another pregnancy announcement was just a reminder to her that she was nowhere near that.

All her closest friends seemed to be married and having kids by now. Lucy and Natsu, Gray and Juvia (however unfortunate that became), and now Gajeel and Levy… Mirajane wasn't exactly close to that, either, though. She and Laxus were still dancing around each other. But at least they could be together.

She couldn't truly be with Jellal yet. Not while he was still on the run from the law. She desperately wanted to be married and start a family, but only if it was with him. Jellal had finally accepted that. For the longest time, he had urged her to stop thinking about him and find someone else that she could do all that with, but she was too stubborn and too in love with him to listen.

Erza sighed again as she opened the door to what suddenly felt like a very lonely apartment.

Or, it was lonely, until someone from inside slammed the door shut behind her and feverishly met her lips with a kiss.

"Jellal!" Erza gasped when they separated, breathing heavily. The space between them was filled again before too long, and Erza hadn't realized they were moving until she felt the back of her legs hit her bed. "Jellal, what are you doing here?" she asked as they fell onto her mattress.

"Meredy just heard about what happened to Gray and Juvia. She wanted to pay them a visit and give her condolences," he responded, sweeping his hands through her long, beautiful hair. "She also wanted to meet Baby Dragneel, but that'll probably have to wait until next time."

"I can't deny that I've been missing you. It's been too long again, Jellal," she chastised, holding his cheek in her hand and gently caressing her thumb across the tattoo underneath his eye.

"You know I just want you to be safe, Erza. The Magic Council is already suspicious of you. If they realized that I visit you, that we're…"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't care!?" Erza flipped them over and stared down at him. "I love you, Jellal. I want to see you far more than I get to."

Jellal gulped. "I… I know. I love you too. I want to see you every day, hold you close in my arms every night, brush your hair in the morning when we're getting ready to go somewhere…" He cast his eyes to the side with a frown, but then looked back up at her.

"The appeal…" she started. Erza had submitted yet another appeal for Jellal's charges to be dropped months ago. He hardly thought it would do any good, but he tried to stay hopeful. For Erza's sake. "It's still not looking good. I haven't gotten a single response back." Erza let her weight settle on Jellal and they stayed like that, just holding each other in their arms.

"I just don't know, Erza."

Erza breathed in deeply. "Let's not worry about it at the moment. You're here right now and I want to make the most of that," she said, kissing him deeply, her scarlet hair crowning around his face.

 **oOo**

Erza woke up several hours later to the sounds and movements of Jellal climbing out of her bed. Cracking open her eyelids, she saw the man pull his pants up before sitting back down and laying his head in his hands in distress. Erza brought the sheets up around her chest and moved to hug Jellal from behind, her arms wrapping around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder.

"You weren't supposed to wake up," he told her.

The redhead smacked him.

"Jellal, I know you love me more than anything, but this is so hard to deal with!"

"I just… I get so guil-"

"Yeah, you let your guilt consume you to the point that you won't even say goodbye to me when you leave!? How many times do I have to tell you that you can't just sneak off like this!? How many times do I have to tell you that _I love you_!?" Erza slumped against his back again and tried to keep her sobs contained.

"I just…"

"Jellal, I haven't gotten to say goodbye to you for two years. You keep running off before I get to. Did you ever think about how I might feel when I wake up and you're gone?"

Jellal thought for a long moment before sighing. "No, I guess not."

"Every time you just leave without saying anything, I feel more searing pain in my heart than I've ever felt in any fight before, Jellal. I love you. I love you so much. But this just hurts so much. Everything about this feels almost like it could kill me."

"Erza, I don't want to put you through this pain-"

"Then start acting like you love me as much as you say you do! Stop letting your guilt grip you like this! There's nothing for you to be guilty about!" The tears finally fell freely now, and with a sniff from the man she clutched onto, Erza realized that she wasn't the only one crying.

"I love you, Erza," he finally said. "And every moment I spend with you is the happiest I've ever been. I'm sorry my ridiculous notions end up making this so hard for you, I just… can hardly believe that I'm allowed to have something like this and then I just start getting so scared and anxietal that something bad is going to happen to you because of me and I leave because I can't handle the thought that I could end up causing you more pain than I already have."

Erza grimaced. "A lot of good that went."

Jellal nodded solemnly. "I didn't realize how much I was hurting you. I didn't think and you're always just so good at hiding how you feel when it comes to stuff like this…" Jellal gave her a look of apology before kissing her softly on the lips. "And part of the reason I don't like us to say goodbye is because every time I say it, it's that much harder to leave."

The redhead gripped Jellal's hand as a way to ground herself. "I think you'd better go."

"What?"

Erza grimaced again. "You heard me. It's time for you to go. I'll see you next time," she told him sternly.

Jellal dropped his head, upset with himself and just wanting to make things right somehow. He sighed. He was an idiot. How could he manage to hurt the woman he loved so much? He'd been hurting her since they were kids and he hadn't stopped, even after finally accepting their love.

"I love you," he told her again as he stood up to put the rest of his clothes on.

"I love you, too," she responded without looking at him.

Jellal pulled his hood up over his eyes and quietly left.

* * *

 **A/N: So yeah, I hope you enjoyed. I've been thinking about how to add Jerza since the beginning, but I think I've figured out what I'm gonna do.**

 **Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following!**


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